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1154037 GENEALOGY COLLECTION

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Gi,dltior) de Lju^g.

Five HundrEd CnplESj nf which this is

NOTED

Living Albanians

AND

STATE OFFICIALS

A SERIES OF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

DAVID ADDISON HARSHA, A. M.

AUTHOR OF “lives OF EMINENT ORATORS AND STATESMEN,” AND OF “ JOHN BUNYAN,”
“PHILIP DODDRIDGE,” “CHARLES SUMNER,” ETC.

Ot all the species of literary composition, perhaps biography is the most delightful.

. Robert Hall

ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS AND YIEWS

ALBANY, N. Y.

WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS

1891

Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-one.

By D. a. HARSHA,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington,

1154037

PREFACE.

IT is three years since the author began to write this
series of “pen portraits,” now issued under the title
of “Noted Living Albanians and State Officials.” Most
of these sketches have appeared in the columns of The
Albany Times, over the signature of “ Atticus,” but they
have all been revised, rewritten and enlarged for the present
publication.

This volume contains carefully and correctly prepared
memoirs, drawn from original sources, of seventy-nine noted
Albanians and state officials — men who, whether on the
sunny or shady side of life, have reflected no little credit
upon themselves for their earnest and studious endeavor
from early youth to fit themselves for usefulness in the
various professions and callings of life.

It has been the aim of the author to render in an im-
partial manner — without regard to differences in political
sentiments, personal jealousies, rivalries or prejudices —
“ honor to whom honor is due ; ” and to portray in lively,
yet true colors, the careers of living, active officials — poli-
ticians, judges, lawyers, physicians, bankers, literary and
scientific men, etc. Particular attention has been given to
the ancestry of these notables ; to their early training in
the school or in the office; to their industry and perse-

Preface.

verance in trying to reach honorable and responsible places
in society, with a description of the special work or line
of business in which they have been or are now engaged,
as tending to promote human progress and development.

From careful research in this fruitful field of investigation
the author is convinced that there is no other city in the
Union, of the same size, in which there are to-day more
solid, sterling, enterprising men than in the old Dutch city
of Albany, notwithstanding what may have been said to
the contrary. While many other names equally notable
are omitted in the present volume, it is because they are
reserved for future portraiture.

It is the intention of the author to issue as soon as
practicable, another series of Noted Albanians, etc., similar
in size and style to the present volume — which must close
his eftbrts in this interesting department of biographical
literature relating to Albany.

The principal changes that have taken place in the his-
tory of the subjects of 'this volume during its preparation
are the retirement of the Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr.,Hrom
public office, in 1889; the resignation of the Hon. James
Shanahan as superintendent of public works of the state
of New York, in 1889; the resignation of Charles R. Hall
as deputy superintendent of the banking department of the
state of New York, in 1889; the removal, by death, of the
venerable judge, Amasa J. Parker, and of Edgar Cotrell, in
the very prime of his life.

This volume is profusely illustrated with excellent por-
traits, mostly on steel, besides several views. A portrait
of James B. Jermain who is the oldest living representa-
tive in the work, faces the title page ; another one very re-
cently taken will be found in his sketch, with views of the

Preface.

vii

Jermain Memorial church, West Troy; the Home for Aged
Men, on the Albany and Troy road; the Young Men’s
Christian Association, Albany ; his own private residence,
a short distance north of Albany; and the Fairview Home
for Friendless Children about a mile north-west of Troy.

The cost of engraving the portraits in this volume with
the impressions of the same for the edition amounts to
$3>500' The mechanical execution of the work reflects
credit upon the large and enterprising printing and pub-
lishing establishment of Messrs. Weed, Parsons & Co.

And now, in the very dawn of the year 1891, this volume
is sent from the press, in the hope that it may prove an
acceptable offering and a valuable treasury of reference
and information in genealogy and biography.

“ The laws, the rights,

The generous plan of power delivered down
From age to age, by our renowned forefathers
So dearly bought, the price of so much blood,

Oh! let it never perish in our hands!”

D. A. HARSHA.

Albany, N. Y., January i, 1891.

rV A . y

CONTENTS.

Bailey, John M., .

PAGE.

Balch, Lewis, M. D., Ph. D.,

Battersby, John,

Baxter, Edwin C.,

Bogart, John,

■ 19

Brooks, Jonas H.,

Buchanan, Charles J.,

Burdick, Joel Wakeman,

Burlingame, Eugene,

Burnham, Edwin K.,

Chase, Norton,

Chester, Alden,

Cook, Frederick,

CoTRELL, Edgar, .

Danforth, Elliot, .

Dewey, Melvil, .

Draper, Andrew Sloan,

Eaton, James W.,

1 08

Farlin, Dudley,

1 12

Fonda, Douw Henry,

118

Fowler, Amos, M. D.,

. ' 123

Contents.

Fuller, Howard N., .

PAGK.

128

Hale, Matthew, ....

. 136

Hall, Charles Roswell,

145

Hammond, Charles Darius,

. I5I

Harris, Hamilton,

155

Hill, David Bennett,

. 166

Hitt, Galen R., .

173

Howell, George Rogers, .

. 179

Hutt, James Wesley,

184

Jermain, James Barclay, .

190

Keeler, William H., . . .

201

Kirchwey, George W., .

208

Learned, William Law.,

217

McNamara, John W.,

226

Maher, Edward A., .

231

Manning, James Hilton,

• 235

Mather, Frederic Gregory,

242

Maxwell, Robert A., . . .

„ 249

Meegan, Edward J., .

253

Merrill, Cyrus S., M. D., .

260

Moak, Nathaniel Cleveland,

264

Munson, George S., M. D., .

- 277

Munson, Samuel Lyman,

283

Murray, David, ....

289

Paine, Willis S., ...

293

Parker, Amasa J., .

300

Parker, Amasa J., jR., .

317

Peck, Charles H., . . .

• 325

Perry, Isaac G., .

331

Contents. xi

PAGE.

Ramsey, Joseph H., . . . . . 337

Read, Harmon Pumpelly, ... 347

Rudd, William P., . . „ . 354

Ruggles, William B., . . , . 360

Russell, Henry, ..... 366

Shanahan, James, . . . . 371

SiCKELS, Hiram E., . . , . 377

Skinner, Charles Rufus, . . . 381

Sweet, Elnathan, ..... 393

Tabor, Charles F., . . . , 399

Thacher, John Boyd, .... 403

Townsend, Frederick, .... 409

Tracey, Charles, . . , , .417

Trego, Thomas Markley, . , . 422

Tucker, Gilbert M., .... 428

Tucker, Willis G., . , . . 432

Vander Veer, Albert, . . . . 437

Van Heusen, Theodore V., . . . 446

Van Rensselaer, William B., . . .451

Van Rensselaer, Howard, . . . 458

Van Santvoord, Samuel M., . . . 463

Ward, Samuel Baldwin, .... 469

Watkins, Albert B., . . . . 476

Wemple, Edward, .... 483

Westbrook, Zerah S., . . . . 490

WiLLERS, DiEDRICH, . , . . 496

Williams, Chauncey P., . . . . 503

Woods, Francis H., . . . . 512

Wooster, Benjamin W., . . . . 520

PORTRAITS AND VIEWS

Baxter, Edwin C., .

FACING

PAGE.

Buchanan, Charles J., .

Burnham, Edwin K.,

Cook, Frederick,

. , 62

CoTRELL, Edgar,

Farlin, Dudley,

1 12

Fuller, Howard N*.,

. 128

Hale, Matthew,

136

Harris, Hamilton, .

L . 155

Howell, George Rogers,

179

Hutt, James Wesley,

184

Jermain, James Barclay,

Frontispiece and 190

View of Y M. C. A. Building,

192

View of Memorial Church,

191

View of Home for Aged Men,

192

View of Fairview Home,

197

View of Private Residence,

• 196

Learned, William Law,

217

Manning, James Hilton,

• 235

Mather, Frederick Gregory, .

242

Merrill, Cyrus Strong,

26c

Moak, Nathaniel Cleveland,

Munson, George S., M. D., .

277

Munson, Samuel Lyman,

■ 283

XIV

Portraits and Views.

FACING

PAGE.

Paine, Willis S., .

• 293

Parker, Amasa J., ...

300

Perry, Isaac G., . . . .

■ 331

Ramsey, Joseph H., .

337

View of Howe's Cave Hotel,

• 346

SicKELS, Hiram E., . . .

377

Skinner, Charles Rufus, .

. 381

Thacher, John Boyd, .

403

Townsend, Frederick,

. 409

Trego, Thomas Markley,

422

Vander Veer, Albert,

• 437

Van Rensselaer, Howard,

458

Ward, Samuel Baldwin,

• 469

Wemple, Edward, .

483

Westbrook, Zerah S., . . • .

• 490

Williams, Chauncey P.,

503

Wooster, Benjamin W.,

520

JOHN M. BAILEY.

T N THE conflict of arms, in the arena of the law, in the
struggle of politics, and in the principles of diplomacy,
an Albanian who has been an active participant, gaining
distinction at home and abroad, is the Hon. John M. Bailey,
the present surveyor of customs in Albany. His career,
thus far, is illustrative of that success which usually attends
a line of action clearly marked out and steadfastly followed
amidst the phases of public life.

He is of New England origin. His father, Henry Bailey,
owned and cultivated a farm in Bethlehem, Albany county,
N. Y., where, on the 24th of August, 1838, his son John, the
subject of this sketch, first saw the light. Remaining at
home during his early youth, he attended the district
school and assisted his father in working the farm. Reared
amidst the healthful scenes and occupations of country life,
his constitution became vigorous, while at the same time he
manifested more than ordinary interest in his school books.
It soon became apparent that farming was not to be his
chosen occupation — that his taste ran wholly in the line of
educational and some kind of professional work ; and to
foster his passion for study his father took great pains to
have him carefully prepared at home, under the care of
competent instructors, for a collegiate course. He dili-

Noted Living Albanians.

gently improved the opportunity thus offered to him, and
when he had reached the age of nineteen, it was with bright
anticipation that he went to Schenectady and entered the
freshman class in Union college. His college life, faithfully
devoted to the full, regular classical course of study, was a suc-
cessful one, and in i86r he was graduated from old Union
with high honors, being one of the three valedictorians of his
class. Having of his own accord selected the legal profession
as the most inviting field of labor, he immediately entered the
famous old law office of Messrs. Cagger & Porter in this city.
Under such favorable circumstances, he began his legal stud-
ies with deep interest and made rapid progress in the same.
But the civil war with its exciting scenes then stirred the
heart of this young law student, and he could not resist the
earnest call of the government for volunteers in defense of
an imperilled Union. He, accordingly, threw aside his law
books and hastened to enroll himself in the service of his
country. He also lost no time in persuading other young
men to enlist in the same loyal cause ; and by his activity
and persistent efforts he had the honor of raising the first
forty men for the old One Hundred and Seventy-seventh
regiment. New York volunteers, of which the Tenth regi-
ment of the National Guard formed the nucleus. He was
made a first lieutenant of Company H in this gallant regi-
ment, in the fall of 1862, and with it went to the scene of
active military operations. In the spring and early summer
of 1863 he was engaged in the fierce attacks on Port Hud-
son, under General Banks. Of the first attack on the 27th
of May, Mr. Lossing very justly remarks: ‘‘ The battle was

furious, and never did men fight with greater determination
than Banks’ little force against the odds of an equal num-
ber behind strong intrenchmients, which were defended in

John M. Bailey.

front by rifle-pits and approached only through thick abattis^
over which swept, like a besom of destruction, the shells
from Confederate guns.” Lieutenant Bailey also faced the
foe in deadly conflict in the later attacks on Port Hudson,
June nth and 14th, and was present at its surrender on the
9th of July — an event which, following so soon after the
fall of Vicksburg, filled the hearts of all loyal people with
unbounded joy.

The One Hundred and Seventy-seventh regiment was
sent to the Department of the Gulf under General Banks, and
in the campaign of Louisiana, on the Mississippi, and in
the dismal swamps of the surrounding country. Lieutenant
Bailey participated with his regiment in all its rough marches
and skirmishes, enduring many hardships “ as a good soldier,”
and doing his whole duty in maintaining the honor of the
stars and stripes. His coolness and intrepidity were always
shown in the sanguinary contest, and his excellent reputa-
tion as a true soldier was well earned.

On the death of Adjutant Richard Strong in 1863 Lieu-
tenant Bailey was promoted to his place — a position which
he held when his regiment returned from the seat of war
and was mustered out. After a most creditable and hon-
orable war record Major Bailey was discharged at the ex-
piration of his term of service, and at once resumed his
legal studies, which had been so suddenly interrupted. He
again entered the office of Cagger Porter, and at the same
time became a student in the Albany law school, where he
graduated in 1864, and was admitted to practice by the
general term of the supreme court in Albany. In the
following year he was made assistant district attorney
of Albany county, which he held for three years. This
was the beginning of his successful career as a lawyer

Noted Living Albanians.

and a politician. From the first he espoused the cause
of the Republican party — the party within whose lines
he has ever since been a prominent figure, unremitting in
his efforts to advance its highest interests and uncompro-
mising in his dealings with its opposing forces.

In 1869 Mr. Bailey was appointed by President Grant
collector of internal revenue for the fourteenth district' of
New York, and served in this capacity until the close of 1873,
when he was succeeded by the late Ralph P. Lathrop. In
1874 he was elected district attorney of Albany county,
and ably filled the office for the term of three years. He was
elected in 1878 to the forty-fifth congress to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Congressman Terence J. Quinn, and
to the forty-sixth congress for a full term. He served in
the committee on Pacific railroads, one of the most impor-
tant committees of the house, and enjoyed the reputation
of being a useful and active member, supremely devoted to
the leading measures of his party as well as to the general
welfare of the nation.

At the close of his congressional career Mr. Bailey was
appointed, by President Garfield, United States consul at
Hamburg, Germany, and in the summer of 1881 he sailed
for that country, to enter upon his official duties, which for
four years he discharged with efficiency and entire satisfac-
tion to our government. His residence abroad was also of
great advantage to him in becoming familiar with the work-
ings of foreign diplomacy, and in seeing many places of in-
terest in European history and art. He was accompanied
abroad by his wife and three children, and they all learned
to write and speak fluently the German language. On the
expiration of his term as consul at Hamburg, in 1885, Mr.
Bailey returned home, and has since devoted his attention

John M. Bailey.

exclusively to the practice of his profession, while at the
same time he has taken a lively interest in the affairs of the
Republican party, especially in Albany county.

On the 28th of August, 1889, President Harrison appointed
Mr. Bailey surveyor of customs in Albany, to succeed Ad-
dison D. Cole, on the duties of which office he immediately
entered, with ripe judgment, large experience in the science
of government, and enlarged knowledge of human nature,
and with a mental capacity of filling the requirements of his
new post'of duty in an able, conscientious and acceptable

manner.

LEWIS BALCH, M, D., PH. D.

ONE of the physicians and surgeons of Albany, whose
professional assistance has been sought often in con-
sultation through the state, is Dr. Lewis Balch. He was
born in the city of New York, corner of Great Jones street
and Second avenue, on the /th day of July, 1847. His an-
cestry on both sides is a notable one. It is of English and
French origin. Several of his ancestors have rendered no
small service in this country in civil and ecclesiastical mat-
ters, He is the oldest son of the Rev. Lewis P. W. Balch,
D. D., and Anna Jay.

H is father was born in Leesburg, Va., in 1810, and died
in Detroit, Mich., in 1874, where he was rector of Grace
Episcopal church. Before the Rev. Dr. Balch moved to
Detroit, where he resided but a year, he had filled many
and important offices in the church, both in this country
and Canada, having been for fifteen years secretary of the
house of bishops of the United States. He was especially
distinguished for his eloquence as a preacher. When a
young man he was appointed a cadet at West Point, and
served there three years, resigning to enter Princeton col-
lege preparatory to studying for the ministry. His mother,
a lady of rare beauty and accomplishments, the daughter of
the Hon. William Jay, died when the subject of this sketch

Lewis Balch, M. D., Ph. D.

was an infant. His grandfather, the Hon. Lewis P. W.
Balch, of Leetown, Va., served as a volunteer at Fort Mc-
Henry in the war of 1812, and after the civil war was the
only man able to take what was thea known as the iron-
clad oath ” in the valley of Virginia, and was appointed
United States judge for that district. His great-grandfather,
the Rev. Stephen Balch, was born in 1746; graduated from
Princeton college in 1774; settled as pastor of a church at
Georgetown, D. C., and died in 1833.

On his maternal side Dr. Balch’s grandfather was the
Hon. Wm. Jay, the second son of John Jay. He studied
the classics at Albany with the Rev. Thomas Ellison of Ox-
ford, England, and while in this city formed a life-long
friendship with James Fenimore Cooper. In 1818 he was
appointed to the bench of Westchester county by Governor
DeWitt Clinton. He assisted in forming the American
Bible Society, and was one of the advocates of the modern
anti-slavery movements. He died October 14th, 1858, leav-
ing the fragrance of a good name. The great-grandfather
of Dr. Balch on his mother’s side was the celebrated John
Jay, our minister to Spain in 1778, our special envoy to
Great Britain in 1794, and first chief justice of the United
States supreme court. He was also governor and chief
justice of this state. His eminent services adorn the pages
of American history.

Dr. Balch was educated at the Maryland institute, Balti-
more, Md., the Berkeley institute, Newport, R. L, and
the Vermont Episcopal institute, Burlington, Vt., where
he prepared for college, but owing to overstudy, was obliged
to suspend all work for a year in order to recover his health.
At the lapse of that time, in the fall of 1866, he entered
the medical department of McGill university, Montreal,

Noted I.iving Albanians.

Canada, where his father was then living. At the end of
the college year, illness again forced him to seek rest, and
he, following the advice of his physician, visited the Brazils
in the winter of 1867-815 In the fall of 1868, he matriculated
at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the medical de-
partment of Columbia College, in New York, from where he
graduated in March, 1 870. After a short rest, he entered and
resided for one year, in the Brooklyn city hospital, further
fitting himself for his life’s work. Before his graduation he
had had service in the Montreal general hospital, the old
New York hospital in Broadway, and the Children’s hos-
pital on Ward’s island. New York harbor. After leaving
the Brooklyn city hospital. Dr. Balch opened an office in
New York and received the appointment of attending sur-
geon to the Northern dispensary.

In 1873, he moved to Albany and began the earnest prac- *
tice of his profession. A few years after his coming to the
latter city, he was made an attending surgeon to St. Peter’s
hospital. When the Albany medical college was re-organ-
ized in 1876, Dr. Balch was appointed professor of anatomy,
one of the attending surgeons to the Albany city hos-
pital, and the surgeon of the Child’s hospital. For a
while he was associated with the late Dr. John Swinburne,
and with him was asked to take charge of the surgical divis-
ion of the Homoeopathic hospital, which invitation he
accepted.

Dr. Balch was appointed one of the district physicians
for the city by the Hon. A. B. Banks, and when the same
gentleman served his second term as mayor, he offered Dr.
Balch the position of city physician, promoting him to be
health officer when that office became vacant in 1885. In
1886 the state board of health appointed Dr. Balch as

Lewis Balch, M. D., Ph. D.

secretary to succeed Dr. Carroll, and re-appointed him for
a second term in 1889.

Shortly after graduation, Dr. Balch entered the service of
the National Guard as an assistant .surgeon, was promoted
to be surgeon, and with the exception of four years, from
1873 to 1877, has remained in the service.

In 1870 Dr. Balch married Miss Jane B. Swann, a niece
of Governor Swann of Maryland, by whom he has had one
son, born in 1872.

JOHN BATl'ERSBY.

Among the noted men of Albany, whose usefulness
and whose generosity will ahvays be held in high es-
teem by our citizens irrespective of party, is John Battersby,
the present republican county treasurer of Albany. Born
on the 19th of January 1834, in the town of Dromore, Ire-
land, he passed his earliest youth with his parents on the
shores of the Emerald Isle, playing and working on the
green fields, breathing the invigorating air of that healthful
climate, and laying the foundation of a sound, vigorous con-
stitution. John was the pride of his parents, who took the
greatest delight in instructing him in right paths, so that in
after years he might rise up and call them blessed. The
father of John Battersby was in many respects a remarkable
man ; his chief characteristics being a provident, industrious
nature, strict integrity, with a soul sensibly touched with
the struggles of humanity and the sufferings of the poor.
With a view to bettering his own condition and that of his
young family he emigrated to America in the year 1847.
On reaching New York and looking over the map of the
country, to select a suitable location for carrying on his
business — that of conducting a fine meat market — he de-
cided on Albany, and sailing up the Hudson he landed at
this city where he was to make a life-long residence. He

John Battersby.

was much pleased with the place and saw at a glance that
there was a good opening for starting a business with which
he was well acquainted and in which financial success was
only a question of time. On reaching Albany with his par-
ents, John was about thirteen years of age — a strong, young
lad, with his physical education well developed — and here
he attended the public schools for about two years, prepar-
ing himself not for a classical or collegiate course, but ac-
quiring a general knowledge of the English branches of lit-
erature such as would fit him for carrying on the practical
business of every day life. Being an apt, industrious stu-
dent he made rapid progress in his studies during those two
well-spent years.

His father, having started business on the corner of Canal
and Chapel streets, required the services of a clerk, and
young John was taken in and given a chance of reducing to
practice his knowledge of arithmetic and bookkeeping. The
experiment was successful. The business was continued at
this stand about a year, when, on looking around for a more
central location, Mr. Battersby purchased of Charles Snow-
den the building on the north-east corner of Clinton avenue
and North Pearl street. John Battersby then went into
business with his father as a partner. And during the
eleven years they remained on that corner they built up a
large business, which continued to increase from year to
year. In 1859, elder Battersby bought the opposite
corner now occupied by his son John. It is an admirable
location, attractive, central, and surrounded by the homes
of some of the most substantial residents of Albany.

It is not surprising that from the first this venture was a
great success when the sterling, active qualities of both
father and son were engaged in it. Here they soon did the

Noted Living Albanians.

largest retail business in fine meats of all kinds of any simi-
lar establishment in the state. Keeping a great variety of
choice meats, Battersby’s market soon attracted the custom
of many of the best citizens of Albany, maintaining its repu-
tation in increasing strength to the present time. It was
greatly due to the enterprise, activity and carefulness of
John Battersby that so large a trade was built up and main-
tained unimpaired. He remained with his father in the
business till the old man’s death in 1880, at the age of
seventy-nine. His departure was greatly missed and la-
mented, especially by the poor, among whom he freely dis-
tributed a great deal of meat, rejoicing many a poor widow
or orphan, or those who were sick or out of work. In this
respect his son inherits some of his father’s most striking
qualities ; and it will never be known to how many of the
worthy poor he has afforded much needed relief to the suf-
ferings of the “inner man.” During the terrible blizzard of
March, 1888, he sent out his baskets of meat, without money
and without price, to those who, he thought, might be in
need of the necessaries of life, setting an example which
many of our wealthiest men would do well to imitate.

After his father’s death, John Battersby took entire charge
of the business, and he still conducts it at the old stand
known to every Albanian. His trade is also said to be very
large outside the city.

It was not long before his fellow-citizens sought to honor
Mr. Battersby by the bestowment of political trusts. He
entered the arena of politics as a republican. He first ran
for alderman in the twelfth ward, which is largely demo-
cratic, and received a flattering vote. He next ran for
member of assembly in the third assembly district , a
democratic district which gives about 3,000 majority. But

John Battersby.

true merit must be rewarded in due time, and so it came to
Mr. Battersby. In the fall of 1884 he was nominated for
the office of county treasurer of Albany county, and was
elected by a majority of 108 over one of the most popular
men in the democratic party, Albert Gallup. An attempt
was apprehended to count him out, but his honorable op-
ponent, and also the candidate for coroner, came out in a
joint letter, gracefully admitting that he was honestly
elected, and so the clouds rolled by, and the political storms
abated. During that exciting canvass the word ‘‘honest”
was placed before his name by his many admirers — a word
whose full meaning he has nobly exemplified in all his pub-
lic, official acts. After entering upon the duties of his office
he endeavored to put it in the most efficient working order ;
and so successful was he in this attempt — carefully and
faithfully looking after the best interests of the county —
that after a term of three years his party re-nominated him
for the same office in the autumn of 1887. After another
stirring canvass he was re-elected by a majority of 846. His
present term of office will expire on the 31st of December,
1890. He is also ex-officio one of the three commissioners
of the Albany penitentiary , and has taken a deep interest
in the proper management of the institution, in furnishing
books for the use of the inmates and in other humane acts
pertaining to the amelioration of the condition of the pris-
oners.

Early in the summer of 1888 Mr. Battersby crossed the
Atlantic and paid brief visits to his native town, and other
places of interest in Ireland, England and Scotland. He
had a most enjoyable time on the other side of the water
and received many flattering attentions, especially from the
warm-hearted Irish and Scotch. He enjoyed the hospitality

Noted Living Albanians.

of the mayor of Dublin and the arch-bishop of Armagh ;
and while in Scotland, met with a genuine Highland recep-
tion. He was much impressed with the natural attractions
of Armagh, while Belfast appeared to him more like an
American city than any other he had visited. Notwithstand-
ing all he saw abroad he returned home with still greater
love for American institutions and a deeper sympathy for
Irish patriots struggling against British oppression, and with
a higher appreciation of Tom Moore’s lines —

“And though slavery’s cloud o’er thy morning hath hung,

The full moon of freedom shall beam round thee yet.”

Amidst all his active duties of life and his daily public
responsibilities Mr. Battersby is a great lover of good books
and the fine arts ; and his pleasant residence on Broadway
is adorned with quite a number of choice and valuable oil
paintings, engravings and statuary, while his library con-
tains a select number of standard volumes, some of which
are handsomely illustrated. Unassuming in his manners,
genial in his disposition, social in his nature, with the
strictest integrity in his public and private acts, he well
illustrates the words of the poet :

“ An honest man’s the noblest work of God.

EDWIN C. BAXTER

The subject of our sketch, Dr. Edwin C. Baxter, is of
New England ancestry, born at Kenduskeag, Me.,
February i, 1845. He is a son of Dr. Hiram C. Baxter, of
Kenduskeag, a prominent physician, who, for nearly sixty
years, has devoted himself to the practice of his profession.
His grandfather. Dr. Elihu Baxter, also an eminent physician
of Maine, was born in Norwich, Vt., in 1781. He practiced
his profession over sixty years, a considerable portion of the
time in the city of Portland, where his character as a citizen
and skill as a physician were unexcelled. His gfeat-grand-
father, Elihu Baxter, was born at Norwich, Conn., in 1749,
and it may here be stated that the Baxters of this family
line came to this country from Norwich, England, and with
others probably from the same locality, settled the towns of
Norwich, Conn., and Norwich, Vt., naming the settlements
in honor of their former home.

Dr. Edwin C. Baxter passed his earlier days amid rural
scenes, enjoying out-of-door sports, fishing and hunting,
which, with the healthful, invigorating surroundings, laid
the foundation of a vigorous constitution, with which he is
still blessed.

At a proper age, however, he began to turn his attention
more closely to his studies, and after graduating from the

Noted Living Albanians.

high school, he began a course of medical instruction, which
he abandoned for the study of dentistry, as being more con-
genial to his taste ; a profession in which he was to find his
true sphere of usefulness and distinction. In the study of
dentistry he was favored with the best of instructors, his
first preceptor being the late Dr. Edwin Parsons, an eminent
dentist of Portland, Me. In order to secure greater
advantages he went to Philadelphia and entered the Penn-
sylvania college of dental surgery, an institution widely
known for its excellent and thorough methods of instruction.
P'rom this college he graduated in 1866, with high honor's.
His skill as an operator, and proficiency in the treatment of
oral diseases, had attracted the attention of Dr. C. N.
Pierce, professor of operative dentistry in the same institu-
tion, who at once engaged him as an assistant in his practice,
his association and consequent experience there being of no
little importance to him in subsequent years. At the end
of the year he established himself in New York city, where
he remained for a time, but was induced to return to Phila-
delphia, where he formed a partnership with his friend Prof.
Pierce, under the firm name of Drs. Pierce & Baxter. This
firm enjoyed an extensive practice among the better class of
people of Philadelphia and vicinity.

Through the advice of the late S. S. White, of Philadel-
phia, publisher of the Dental Cosmos, he came to Albany
and purchased the practice of the late Drs. R. & A. Nelson,
whose office was located at No. 22 North Pearl street ; from
there he moved to No. 50 of the same street, where he
remained until 1886, when he purchased -his present resi-
dence, No. 160 State street, opposite Capitol park, a most
desirable location, with very inviting surroundings. Here
he enjoys one of the most extensive and finest practices in

Edwin C. Baxter.

the State, his patients coming not only from Albany, but
from all parts of the State. By careful investigation, close
attention, and a genuine love for his chosen profession, he
has well earned an exalted reputation, and deserves the high
compliment paid him by the Pall Mall Gazette, in the fol-
lowing words :

“ During the summer of 1879, a party of our citizens of
London were on a visit to America. On their return from
Niagara Falls to New York, they had occasion to stop over
at Albany, which is the capital of the great State of New
York. During their sojourn there, it was found necessary
for some of the party to have some dentistry done. A cele-
brated Albany dentist. Dr. Edwin C. Baxter, was chosen
for the work, which he did in the most skillful manner. His
mode of treatment is very gentle, whilst his mechanical skill
enables him to do his work quickly and to do it in the best
possible manner. Dr. Baxter will compare very favor-
ably with Dr. J. Fairbank, dentist to her majesty, the queen,
and the royal family, and Dr. Thomas W. Evans, of Paris,
who was dentist to Napoleon III, and the imperial family.
Dr. Baxter graduated at the Pennsylvania college of dental
surgery, in 1866, with the highest honors, and now stands
at the head of the profession, as one of the best dentists in
the world. He has worked faithfully to gain this point, and
deserves the highest possible credit for the wonderful perfec-
tion he has attained in the art of dentistry. He, like Dr.
Fairbank, and Dr. Evans, is gaining a world-wide reputation
for the excellence of his work and the manner in which he
does it. We heartily commend Dr. Edwin C. Baxter to all
Englishmen visiting America who have occasion to call upon
a dentist.”

Noted Living Albanians.

To which “ Faxon,” of the New York Commercial Adver-
tiser, adds: “A higher or more deserved compliment than
the above could not be devised.”

In 1873 Dr. Baxter married Miss Lydia Ryerson Sprague,
of Brooklyn, Long Island. In 1885 he spent three months
in foreign travel, visiting London, Paris, Switzerland, and
other places of interest in Europe. He is refined in his
tastes and feelings, and sociable and agreeable in his nature.

JOHN BOGART.

An Albanian by birth, who holds an important position
as a state officer, and whose abilities have brought
him into wide notice, is the Hon. John Bogart, the accom-
plished state engineer and surveyor. He was born in
Albany, on the 8th of February, 1836. His ancestors came
from Holland to this city as early as 1640, and owned lands
in Beverwyck, now Albany, in 1641 ; they were consequently
among its very earliest settlers. And here their descendants
lived in characteristically simple, honest, industrious ways,
until they established comfortable and substantial homes
for themselves and competencies for their children. The
family also owned property in Ulster county purchased
from the Indians, and Mr. Bogart has the original parch-
ment patent for these lands from Governor Benjamin
Fletcher in the reign of King William and Queen Mary,
dated March 28, 1694. The old Dutch element of Albany,
though quiet in its progress, nevertheless succeeded in lay-
ing the foundation of our municipal fabric on solid ground
which the political convulsions of more than two centuries
have not been able to undermine.

When still very young, John Bogart, the subject of this
memoir, was sent to the Albany academy. That institutian,
then as now, was noted for the thorough educational train-

Noted Living Albanians.

ing given to its students. Under the direction of Dr. T.
Romeyn Beck, Dr. William H. Campbell, the Rev. William
C. Miller, and Dr. George H. Cook, the elements of a liberal
education were excellently taught. At that period the two
great prizes of the academy year were the Van Rensselaer
classical medal and the Caldwell mathematical medal, given
for the best student in each of those branches. Young
Bogart was the first person to whom were awarded both of
these medals in the same year. From the academy he went
to Rutgers college, where many sons of Albany Dutchmen
had, for years, received their collegiate education. He
graduated in 1853, with the degree of bachelor of arts. The
college subsequently conferred on him the master’s degree.

Mr. Bogart’s health on leaving college was delicate and,
to secure the advantages of active exercise, he entered at
‘once the corps of engineers of the New York Central railroad
and was actively engaged for several years upon the im-
provement of the lines of that road, then in progress. A
large part of his duties was in connection with the construc-
tion of the direct road between Syracuse and Rochester,
through Clyde, Lyons and Palmyra, which effected a saving
of twenty miles, as compared with the length of the older
line by way of Auburn, Geneva and Canandaigua. In this
service his health was entirely restored and he has since
been strong and vigorous, fairly promising to continue the
somewhat remarkable record for longevity of his family for
many generations.

This experience in engineering work established his choice
of a profession. He has been through life a civil engineer
and has become well known as an expert in the considera-
tion of questions connected with engineering. His next
service was as an assistant in the engineer department of the

John Bogart.

state of New York. He was engaged upon the works of re-
construction and enlargement of the canals of the eastern
division of the state, and for some time, as a young engineer,
occupied a part of the offices in the state house where,
thirty years afterward, he presided as the state engineer.

At this time the construction of the great park in New
York city was then just being entered upon. This project
involved very important engineering work in its roads, tun-
nels, arches, bridges, drainage and water system ; it also in-
volved the artistic element of aesthetic landscape treatment.
Mr. Bogart was engaged upon this work until the be-
ginning of our civil war, and became deeply interested in the
development of urban and suburban park improvements.
He has since been connected with many such improvements
in various parts of the United States.

At the outbreak of the great civil war the urgent demand
of the government for the best services of the young men of
the country was responded to at once, both by the subject
of this sketch and by his only brother, James Henry Bogart,
who served through the war, up to the siege of Port Hud-
son, La., where, as a major of one of the New York regi-
ments, he was killed while leading his troops into action,
Mr. John Bogart entered the service as an engineer and
served throughout the war, being stationed most of the
time in Virginia. He had charge of the construction of the
heavy fortifications upon the Rip Raps, an island in Hamp-
ton roads, ‘which, in connection with Fort Monroe, guards
the mile-wide channel from the, ocean to the James river
and to Norfolk. He was present at the memorable engage-
ment between the iron-clad Merrimack and the first Moni-
tor, witnessing, from the mast of one of the ships, the fight
which revolutionized naval warfare.

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Mr. Bogart was, during the war, on active duty at many
points in Virginia, including Yorktown, the Chickahominy,
Norfolk, Point Lookout, the James river. City Point, etc.;
and at Richmond immediately after its evacuation. He re-
mained in the service until 1866, when he returned to civil
life and has since been constantly engaged in the direction
of engineering works and as a professional adviser in the
management of large operations.

The experience gained in the construction of Central park
in New York city has led to his connection with works of
city and park improvement in many places. He was chief
engineer of the Prospect park, Brooklyn ; he was also chief
engineer of the department of public parks of the city of
New York from 1872 to 1877, and he has designed and
aided in the construction of the parks and been connected
with the public improvements of many cities, including
Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Nashville, New Orleans and
Syracuse.

When it was determined to construct a park in the city
of Albany, Mr. Bogart was consulted by the commission
charged with that important undertaking. He made the
design for our beautiful park and superintended its execu-
tion. It was a labor of love for him to aid in the develop-
ment of these grounds in the city of his birth. He considers
that no other city in the world has, in the same area, so fine
a park, and the citizens of Albany, as they enjoy the oppor-
tunity for recreation thus afforded should give a pleasant
thought of remembrance to the man whose careful study
and artistic taste has made these grounds what they are.

Mr. Bogart has been connected for many years with the
direction of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the
representative organization of his profession. He is the

John Bogart.

editor of the transactions of that society, in which publica-
tion appear the most important engineering papers pub-
lished in this country. His article on engineering feats,”
published in Sa'ibner s Magazine for July, 1888, was a nota-
ble paper, widely read and copied.

As a civil engineer Mr. Bogart has the reputation of
conservative judgment, based upon well-informed experience
and study. He is an excellent organizer of large forces of
men, and has been very successful in the direction of works
of much magnitude. Upon questions involving technical
engineering considerations his advice is sought by the men
who have large interests involved, and his private practice
as a consulting engineer rendered it difficult for his friends
to persuade him to accept an official position.

Mr. Bogart had charge of the exhibit of civil engineering
at the international exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876.
When the holding of a world’s fair in New York city was
contemplated, he was chosen to represent the civil engineers
on the general committee, and was also appointed a mem-
ber of the executive committee. He was one of the board
of experts to decide upon the plans for the proposed New
York cathedral, and was president of the board of experts
to examine the plans for the Nicaragua canal. He is now
one of the consulting engineers for the Cataract Construc-
tion Company, which proposes to utilize the immense water
power of the Niagara river ; is the consulting engineer of the
Harlem river bridge commission, and the consulting engi-
neer of Trinity corporation of New York city.

Mr. Bogart was the deputy state engineer and surveyor
during 1886 and until the summer of 1887, when he resigned
that position. He was at that time engaged in superintend-
ing the construction of the great bridge in course of erec-

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tion across the Harlem river valley for the city of New
York, consisting of two steel arches of 510 feet span each,
and seven granite arches of 60 feet span.

In the fall of 1887 he was elected state engineer and sur-
veyor, and assumed the office on January i, i888. On the
resignation of Gen. Newton as commissioner of public works
of the city of New York, in the fall of 1888, Mr. Bogart was
tendered that position by the mayor of New York, but
declined it. In the autumn of 1889, Mr. Bogart was re-
elected state engineer and surveyor to hold office till the
close of the year 1891.

Personally, Mr. Bogart is of a very social disposition, pop-
ular and universally well liked ; a man of somewhat over
medium height, with thick iron-gray hair, heavy, drooping,
military moustache, of quick, alert manners and distin-
guished bearing. He is, in fact, a Dutchman of the nine-
teenth century. He is a member of our Fort Orange club,
of the Century club, and of the Holland and Saint Nicholas
societies of New York, and is a trustee of the Engineer’s
club of that city.

Mr. Bogart’s father, John Henry Bogart, formerly in mer-
cantile business in Albany, has resided in New York for a
number of years past. His mother, Eliza Hermans Bogart,
died in March, 1889.

Mr. Bogart’s family now consists only of his wife, who
was Miss Emma C. Jefferis, of Pennsylvania. They lost
their two children several years since. It is to be hoped,
and it is understood that there is some ground for the hope
expressed by many of our citizens, that Mr. and Mrs. Bogart
will make Albany their permanent residence, where they
have already made very many friends.

■JONAS H. BROOKS.

ALEAbiNG, representative young man of Albany — a
banker by profession — who is identified with the
commercial interests of the city, is Jonas H. Brooks. He
was born at Rutland, Worcester county. Mass., on the
5th of January, 1848. He comes from a long line of
New England ancestry, which dates back to the forma-
tion of the Massachusetts colony in 1630-1. He is of the
eighth generation of this strong and sterling old race in this
country., The parents of Jonas H. Brooks are Moses Brooks
and Sophronia Greenwood. His grandfather was Jonas
Brooks of Princeton, Mass., who lived to the great age
of ninety-five. When Jones H. Brooks was three years
old his parents moved from Rutland to Princeton, their
former home, where they remained five years. After this,
in the spring of 1856, they removed to the town of Oxford,
Chenango county, N. Y., locating, at first, for two years on
a farm, and then taking up their residence in the village of
Oxford. Young Brooks attended the country district school,
and the village academy, leaving it temporarily, when he
had reached his fourteenth year. In 1862, his parents chose
as their permanent home the attractive town of Unadilla,
Otsego county, N. Y., where they still reside. Two years
later, in order to carry on his academical studies under the
4

Noted Living Albanians.

most favorable circumstances, Mr. Brooks was sent back by
his parents to the Oxford academy, then under the princi-
palship of Prof. D. G. Barber, a teacher of high repute and
of varied learning, who is still living at Oxford. While at
this academy Mr. Brooks was a diligent student in all the
branches of study taught there, but at the same time he
paid special attention to medicine, intending to prepare
himself for a course of lectures on that subject. What
turned his attention to this field of labor was not only an
early love for it but also the fact that his eldest brother was
then a surgeon in the regular army ; and the young student
hoped that he might some day be associated with him in so
honorable and responsible a profession. The death of this
brother in 1866 changed all his plans, though his early love
of medical science has never been forgotten by him. He
next turned his attention to teaching, for which he was
already well qualified, and in the winter of 1866-7, at the
early age of eighteen, he successfully taught school in Guil-
ford, Chenango county. He resumed his academical studies
in the fall of 1867, at the academy in Norwich, N. Y., where
he was in the teacher’s class, and where he obtained a
teacher’s certificate as he also had done the preceding year
at Oxford. In the winter of 1867-8, he taught school at
Rockwell’s Mills, in the town of Guilford. He now left
teaching, to enter upon a calling which he has ever since
followed with remarkable energy and success. In the spring
of 1868 a clerk was wanted in the First National bank of
New Berlin, N. Y., and as Mr. Brooks’ superior scholarship,
especially his excellence in mathematics, and his strict in-
tegrity as a young man were widely known in the neighbor-
hood, he was given a position in that bank. Giving unusual
satisfaction, he was chosen teller of the same institution in

Jonas H. Brooks.

the following January, a position which he held till the
close of 1873. He was also a director of the bank during
the last year he was connected with it.

In December, 1873, he accepted the appointment of teller
of the National Albany Exchange bank, having resigned his
former position to do so. This office he ably filled till the
death of the cashier of the bank, Mr. Theodore L. Scott, on
February 22, 1881. In the following March Mr. Brooks was
appointed his successor, in which capacity he continued till
the bank was closed on the expiration of its charter in
January, 1885. On the formation of the new National Ex-
change bank of Albany, in which he in connection with
Mr. C. P. Williams took the active part, he was chosen
cashier, where he continued to discharge with fidelity the
responsible duties devolving upon him until November 6,
1889, when he was elected a director and cashier of the
Albany City National bank, which position he accepted and
occupies at the present time.

Mr. Brooks is a close observer of human nature in all its
manifestations, and has made this subject a special study,
the knowledge of which is of inestimable advantage, par-
ticularly to a bank official. He is moreover a great lover of
natural scenery — of all that is beautiful and sublime in the
material creation. This taste was cultivated by him during
his boyhood days when upon his father’s farm.

“ ’Tis born with all; the love of Nature’s works
Is an ingredient in the compound of man,

Infused at the creation of his kind.”

His reading in the line of historical and scientific books
has been quite extensive, while he is perfectly familiar with
the best treatises on political economy, banking, etc. He
has also devoted considerable of his spare time to genea-

Noted Living Albanians.

logical work, particularly that relating to his own family
name.

A republican all his life, he has taken a deep interest in
political events, but has never allowed his name to be used
as a candidate for any political office. He has been a mem-
ber of some of the republican committees in Albany, and in
1886 was sent as a delegate to the state convention at
Saratoga. He is identified with some of the political or-
ganizations and clubs of the city. He is one of the founda-
tion members of the Fort Orange club. He is exceedingly
fond of athletic sports and out-of-door exercise, and his
experience at the Rensselaerwyck rifle range where he has
carried off several prizes has shown him to be a good marks-
man. As a relaxation from the more confining duties of a
banker’s life, he finds such sports to be not only agreeable
and stimulating, but healthful.

In religion, Mr. Brooks is an Episcopalian — a member
of St. Peter’s church, in whose welfare he has taken active
interest, and was for two years treasurer of the church. In
January, 1890, he was elected a trustee and treasurer of the
Corning Foundation for Christian Work in the diocese of
Albany.

On the 22d of January, 1889, Mr. Brooks married Miss
Frances S. Patten, ^daughter of the late Samuel Patten of
this city. An interesting feature of this wedding was the
presence of Mr. and Mrs. Moses Brooks of Rockdale, N. Y.,
father and mother of the subject of this sketch, who, a few
days previous had celebrated the fifty-seventh anniversary
of their own marriage.

Mr. Brooks is possessed of high social qualities, and rriay
be called, in the higher sense of the term, a society man,
in which are embraced the principles of a true manhood.

Jonas H. Brooks.

His tall, commanding presence graces the social gatherings
of Albany, where his ready conversational powers, his cul-
tivated and polished manners, his sunny disposition, and
his high-toned moral and intellectual characteristics are
highly and justly appreciated.

“Man in society is like a flower
Blown in its native bed: ’tis there alone
His faculties, expanded in full bloom,

Shine out; there only reach their proper use.”

CHARLES J. BUCHANAN.

An industrious and accomplished Albany lawyer, who
has already gained no little distinction in the legal
profession, and whose record in our civil war was most hon-
orable, is Charles J. Buchanan, now of the well-known firm
of Moak & Buchanan.

Of Scotch-Irish ancestry — an ancestry noted for its
strong mental and physical powers — he was born at New
Berlin, Chenango county, N. Y., on the 27th of December,
1843. common schools of his native town, and in

the New Berlin academy, amidst the richness and quietude
of rural life, his school-boy days were pleasantly and profit-
ably passed. A studious youth, he was ambitious to lay a
substantial foundation on which he might build some useful
intellectual superstructure. But when he left the academy
in the hope of continuing his studies at college the civil
war had broken out and the young student was fired with
patriotic zeal in a loyal cause.

In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in the First regiment
of United States sharpshooters (Berdan’s) and went im-
mediately to the front, his regiment being at once as-
signed to the army of the Potomac. He was then about
eighteen years of age, vigorous in body, unfailing in courage
and eager to engage in the deadly conflicts for loyalty when-

Charles J. Buchanan.

ever they should come. He served three years in Col.
Berdan’s regiment, rising to the rank of first lieutenant and
acting adjutant of that organization. This famous regiment
of brave men, armed with Sharp’s breech-loading rifles,
served always in the army of the Potomac, participating in
all its campaigns and battles and rendering valuable service
to the Union cause, especially in the fierce struggle at Chan-
cellorsville and in the decisive battle of Gettysburg, where, by
its bold and memorable reconnoissance on the morning of
July 2, 1863, the rebel attack upon the Union left was un-
masked and the Round Tops — the key of the battlefield —
were saved from capture by the enemy.

To follow young Buchanan through all the long and
tedious marches and the many engagements in which he
took part, would greatly exceed the limits of this sketch.
We would merely say, that his regiment was engaged in
upward of forty-three battles and skirmishes, from Yorktown,
in 1862, to Appomattox, in 1865. He was never away from
his regiment until his final discharge, and was never sick nor
wounded whilst in the service. Some of the most important
and memorable conflicts in which he participated, were those
at Yorktown, Hanover Court-House, the Seven Days’ bat-
tles before Richmond, Antietam, Wapping Heights, Fred-
ericksburgh, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness,
Spotsylvania Court-House, Cold Harbor, Deep Bottom, the
mine explosion at Petersburg, Weldon railroad, and the
siege of Petersburg.

At the close of the war, with a military experience so
remarkable, Mr. Buchanan sought to further develop his
mental resources by a course of close, scientific study. For
this purpose he wished to become a cadet, and through the
influence of Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, Michael C. Kerr and

Noted Living Albanians.

others, he received an appointment to the United States
military academy at West Point. There he remained about
three years, making excellent use, especially, of the severe,
mathematical discipline afforded in that institution — in-
structions which have been of the greatest utility to him in
his subsequent career.

Contemplating the law as his life-long profession, Mr.
Buchanan resigned his cadetship in the academy and began
his studies with the firm of Smith, Bancroft & Moak in 1870.
It was a most fortunate step for a young student of legal as-
pirations. Mr. Buchanan was afforded every facility by that
noted firm for carrying his studies rapidly forward, besides
receiving the most generous personal treatment by its in-
dividual members. In January, 1874, he was admitted to
the bar at the general term in Albany, and soon afterward
became a member of the firm with which he had studied.
Mr. Bancroft died in January, 1880, and Mr. Smith in De-
cember, 1884, when the present firm of Moak & Buchanan
was formed. This is now one of the largest and most suc-
cessful law firms in this city or state. Its practice embraces
often very important and intricate cases in all the higher
courts ; and its members are noted, especially, for their
careful and deep researches into all legal questions affecting
the interests of their numerous clients.

Besides his absorbing law practice Mr. Buchanan takes
great interest in the military affairs of the country and is a
fast friend of the veterans of the late war. On the 2d of
July, 1889, he delivered an oration at Gettysburg on the
dedication of the monument to the First regiment of United
States sharpshooters — a monument dedicated to the men
of Berdan’s regiment, who fell on that great battlefield. It
was a proud day in the history of Mr. Buchanan, who.

Charles J. Buchanan.

twenty-six years before, had, himself, with his brave com-
rades met and fought a portion of the Confederate army
on that ever-memorable and decisive field. With all the
thrilling associations of the past crowding upon his mind,
Mr. Buchanan spoke with great earnestness and deep emo-
tion, and his address was received with applause by the
large audience composed of old soldiers and citizens. It
has since been issued in a pamphlet form, and is replete
with interesting historical facts.

Mr. Buchanan is a member of the Grand Army of the
Republic, the Fort Orange club, the Buchanan society of
Scotland, the St. Andrew’s society, and of the board of
trustees of the Albany law school, of which he is secretary,
and is also a trustee of the National Savings bank of Albany.
He has been for some years chairman' of the examining
committee of the third judicial department for the examina-
tion of law students. He has always taken great interest
in the Young Men’s association, has been first vice-president
thereof, and has been several years a member of its board
of managers. He has also declined frequent requests to
become a candidate for president of the association. He
was^ prominent in raising the Harmanus Bleecker Hall fund,
and he is now one of the commissioners of Washington
park, and also its treasurer. In politics Mr. Buchanan has
always been a republican.

In October, 1875, he married Miss Caroline Van Valken-
berg, daughter of the late Isaac Van Valkenberg, of North-
ville, Fulton Co., N. Y.

Mr. Buchanan is an able lawyer, a popular, progressive
citizen, but at the same time very unpretending in all the
public and private acts of his life. His great modesty ap-
pears in his seldom alluding to his war record, and in his
5

Noted Living Albanians.

not boasting of any personal services rendered on the
field of strife. But truth compels us to say, that among the
noble defenders of a loyal government, whose names will
always be enshrined in the hearts of the lovers of our glori-
ous Union, will stand conspicuously in the bright, worthy
list the name of Charles J. Buchanan.

JOEL WAKEMAN BURDICK.

1154037

An Albanian well known in railroad circles and by the
traveling public is J. W. Burdick, the genial general
passenger agent of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company
railroad. He comes from the sturdy, enterprising race of
New Englanders who have done so much to advance the
material interests of our country in the development of its
vast resources. Born on the 20th of June, 1853, in the rural
village of Almond, Allegany county, N. Y., he is a son of
R. M. Burdick and Sarah E. Farnsworth, his wife. His
father, now retired from the more active duties of life, is
still living on the old homestead at Almond, while a few
years ago the grave closed over his mother. One of his
original ancestors was Samuel Hubbard Burdick, a follower
of Roger Williams, and who, with the daring old pioneer
and founder of the first Baptist church in America, left the
shores of England — driven away by the storm of persecu-
tion— and came to this country in 1631, settling a few years
later in the new but hospitable region of Providence, R. I.
There Mr. Burdick purchased six hundred acres of land, on
a portion of which now stands the beautiful city of Provi-
dence. He was perfectly willing to endure the hardships in-
cident to pioneer life in the wilds of America for the sake of
enjoying freedom of conscience in religious matters, and for

Noted Living Albanians.

the greater opportunity of laboring in broader fields in the
rising cause of civilization and good government.

J. W. Burdick, the subject of this sketch, received his
early education at the village school of his native place,
where he was noted for his studious habits and his fondness
for literature and art. He would gladly have continued to
cultivate his literary tastes through the higher schools of
learning, but more speedily remunerative work demanded
his attention. Wishing to do something for himself in the
way of earning a living, and cultivating a feeling of self-reli-
ance, he left the paternal roof when scarcely fifteen years
of age and started out to learn the telegraph business. He
soon found employment as an operator for the old Erie Rail-
road Company. Easily mastering the art, he shortly after-
ward became a ready, expert and successful operator. Re- *
liable and trustworthy in every respect, he filled successively
the positions of operator and train dispatcher.

His abilities and superior qualifications for general rail-
road work in its more particular and difficult departments
becoming more widely known and fully recognized, he ac-
cepted a position in 1879 clerk in the general office of the
passenger department of the D. & H. railroad. For faith-
fulness and efficiency in his duties he was promoted in 1880
to the chief clerkship in the same company. In 1881 he
was placed in charge of the entire telegraph system, in ad-
dition to his other duties, and for four years he filled this
position most acceptably. In 1883 he was made assistant
general passenger agent of the Delaware and Hudson Canal
Company’s railroad, and in 1885 succeeded Mr. D. M. Ken-
drick as general passenger agent, having in charge all the
passenger interests of the company — an office which he
still occupies with commendable ability, reflecting no little

Joel Wakeman Burdick.

credit upon himself and honor on the large and prosperous
company by which he is employed.

Thus by industry, perseverance, strict integrity and a full
knowledge of his business, Mr. Burdick has steadily risen to
more responsible positions until he has gained an enviable
reputation though scarcely in the prime of life.

During the summer of 1889 Mr. Burdick, with a view to wit-
nessing the workings of foreign railroad systems, and seeing
places famous in history, literature and art, crossed the At
lantic, visiting England, Scotland,* Ireland, France, Switzer-
land, etc. He was greatly interested in the great picture
galleries of Europe, and made frequent visits to them. He
was much pleased with the richness and beauty of English
landscapes, and loved to visit the more retired places and
study the rural life, the manners and customs of the people.
On the whole, his taste for the beautiful and the sublime in
nature and art was highly gratified by his two months’ tour
in foreign lands, and he returned home with pleasant mem-
ories of his visit, and with enlarged knowledge of men and
things in the old world.

In 1872 Mr. Burdick married a daughter of W. W. Bart-
lett, of Corning, - N. Y., a retired farmer. They have four
children, two boys and two girls, and their home life is both
cheerful and happy.

Mr. Burdick is a member of the Albany club, and of the
New England society of New York city. Unassuming in
his manners, gentle in his disposition, always attentive to
his line of business, with an eye on the welfare of the com-
pany he represents, he has worked his way up, as we have
already seen, to places of usefulness and responsibility, by
his own unaided efforts, and has clearly demonstrated his
admirable fitness for the work to which he has been called.

EUGENE BURLINGAME.

IN THE long list of noted Albanians who have reflected
, honor upon their native or adopted city, the name of
Eugene Burlingame stands in a conspicuous place. He has
thus far exhibited a true manhood, an enterprising, indus-
trious and persevering spirit in his private and professional
career. He comes from a substantial family of New Eng-
land, the distinguished Anson Burlingame being a relative
of his. He was born on the 24th of January, 1847, the
town of Willet, Cortland county, N. Y. His grandfather, a
pioneer from New England, was one of the earliest settlers
of that county, and possessed the same adventurous, daring
spirit that has characterized the most prominent men of the
eastern states. He found his way to his new settlement
through a vast and howling wilderness, crossing the Cats-
kill mountains on horseback in olden times, and finally
taking up his residence amid the primeval forests of Cort-
land county. Here he went to work with strong hands and
a brave heart to clear up the wilderness around him. He
was a man of more than ordinary physical and mental
powers, attaining the great age of ninety-three, when he
died honored and respected by all who knew Him.

Eugene Burlingame is a son of Westcott Burlingame and
Melinda Eaton, both of whom are still living. His earliest

Eugene Burlingame.

years were passed on his father’s farm, where, as soon as he
was old enough, he assisted in its cultivation, attending the
district schools in the fall and winter months. Though a
hard-working farmer’s boy, yet he loved his books more
than he did farming, and his young heart was set upon ac-
quiring a thorough education. For this purpose he entered
the Cincinnatus academy in Cortland county, where he re-
mained about two years pursuing his studies with great
ardor and delight, and so early and well founded was he in
the general principles of science and literature that on the
expiration of this period he returned home and for one winter
taught a district school. Among his pupils were many of
the boys and girls with whom he had been reared. He was
then but eighteen years of age, but his brief experience as
a school teacher was a successful one. Still his thirst for
knowledge was not to be satisfied with his previous attain-
ments, and so he determined to advance higher in the pur-
suit of learning. In the winter of 1866 he was induced by
a friend of the family of Dr. Samuel B. Woolworth, then
the acting president of the Albany normal school, to come
to this city and enter the institution. Soon after this, the
late Dr. Joseph Alden was chosen a permanent president of
the school. After a diligent course of instruction young Bur-
lingame was graduated with honor from this institution in
the summer of 1868. In the autumn of the sam.e year he be-
came principal of the union school at Athens, N. Y. At
the close of the first year he wished to resign his principal-
ship, but was prevailed upon by the trustees to remain
another year in charge of the school. Under his popular
and successful management the school greatly flourished.
But the early ambition of Mr. Burlingame’s life was not to
continue a teacher, but to become a lawyer, and towards

Noted Living Albanians.

the carrying out of this design he bent all his energies.
The books that possessed the most charms for him from his
boyhood were elementary treatises on the law and its liter-
ature. His brightest hopes were at length realized when
in 1870, at the age of twenty-three, he entered the Albany
law school. Here he had the very best legal instruction.
Isaac Edwards was then the dean of the school, Judge Ira
Harris a lecturer on constitutional law, and Judge Amasa
J. Parker and Judge W. F. Allen, of the court of appeals,
were also of the faculty. Under such learned and eminent
instructors, the law students were placed in a position to
succeed, and young Burlingame was one of those who
eagerly embraced the opportunity offered. His whole
heart was in his legal studies, and so rapid was his progress
that in the summer of 1871 he took the degree of LL.B.

Desirous of obtaining a more complete knowledge of the
law in all its various branches he then went to Hudson and
entered the law office of Newkirk & Chace, prominent attor-
neys and counselors, who had a large and widely extended
practice. In this office he remained over a year, and the
knowledge, experience and observation he gained there
were of great service to him in commencing his own prac-
tice of the legal profession. Albany was selected as the field
of his labors, and coming here in the summer of 1872, he at
once formed a partnership with Charles W. Mead, Esq.,
which existed about five years. On the dissolution of this
law partnership he opened an office for himself at No. 452
Broadway, where he still remains, carrying on a large, lucra-
tive and constantly increasing practice. Before he was in
practice a year he argued several cases before the court of
appeals, which is an unusual achievement for a young
lawyer. While he is frequently consulted and does a great

Eugene Burlingame.

amount of work as counsel for other attorneys, he always
tries and argues his own cases, and he has been remarkably
successful in winning the most of them. In the trial of
causes, for which he has a great liking, he is deliberate and
dignified in his manner, quick to apprehend the strong
points of his own case and the weak ones of his adversary,
and ready with abundant resources to meet the ever-chang-
ing phases of a closely contested case. In the earlier years
of his practice, unlike the experience of the majority of
young lawyers, he was often pitted in the trial of causes
against such capable and experienced counselors as A. J.
Colvin, Judge A. J. Parker, Rufus W. Peckham, Jacob H.
Clute, George L. Stedman, Judge Countryman, N. C. Moak,
Robert E. Andrews, Samuel Edwards, now justice of the su-
preme court; Attorney-General Franci.^C. Barlow, Attorney-
General Daniel Pratt, Charles S. Fairchild, late secretary of
the United States treasury, and others ; and it is remarkable
that he was generally successful in his legal contests with
such celebrities of the law. Mr. Burlingame has already
been engaged in many important causes, among which was
the noted trial of John Hughes, charged with the murder of
William J. Hadley, Esq., in 1880. This trial was held in
the old assembly chamber, which was crowded with spec-
tators during the proceedings. Mr. Burlingame was as-
sociated with Hon. John W. McNamara in the defense,
while Attorney-General Hamilton Ward and District At-
torney Lansing Hotaling were for the prosecution. The
plea for the defense was that of insanity.

Mr. Burlingame also succeeded in securing a verdict for
the plaintiff and consequent vindication of his client in the
case of McCabe vs. Halsted, a peculiarly complicated action
for malicious prosecution. The case was tried before Judge
6

Noted Living Albanians.

Osborn and a jury at the Greene circuit, and two distin-
guished counselors, Messrs. N. C. ‘ Moak and Robert E.
Andrews, were on the defendant’s side. He was associated
in the defense of the cases growing out of the explosions of
fireworks in State street, in this city, on the 4th of July,
1885, and won the causes, and still more recently he suc-
cessfully defended the milkmen charged with violations of the
dairy law, which involved complicated questions of consti-
tutional law.

He was also associated as counsel in the matter of Mc-
Pherson, which involved the constitutionality of the col-
lateral inheritance tax law. His brief in the court of ap-
peals in this intricate case showed great ability and research.
In fact, thorough preparation and earnest devotion to the
cause of his client, combined with natural abilities of a high
order, would seem to be the secret of his success.

Mr. Burlingame is a republican, and though not a politi-
cian his advice is frequently sought in party matters, and he
is a familiar figure on the stump in important campaigns.

In 1883 he was the republican candidate for district attor-
ney of Albany. In 1884 he was chosen chairman of the Al-
bany county republican committee, and in 1887 he was elected
as member of the republican state committee. Mr. Burlin-
game was president of the Young Men’s Association of
Albany in 1884. He is a past-master of Master’s lodge. No.
5, F. and A. M.; and a vestryman of St. Paul’s Episcopal
church, Albany. Affable in his manners, warm in his
friendships, earnest in whatever he undertakes, untiring in
his efforts to crown his labors with success, Mr. Burlin-
gartie is one of the busiest men in his profession, performing
a large amount of legal work often of a difficult and com-
plicated nature.

Eugene Burlingame.

By his ability, courage and unceasing energy he has
earned the reputation of being one of the most successful
lawyers at the Albany bar. As a speaker, he is earnest and
graceful, while his reasoning is logical and cogent. He always
commands respectful attention, and is remarkably success-
ful in impressing his views upon his auditors. As an illus-
tration of this, it is a notable fact that he rarely loses a jury
case. In his forensic addresses he exhibits strong and
varied powers. He excels in a clear, comprehensive and
forcible presentation of the case in hand. His eloquence is
of a persuasive nature, earnest and glowing in its appeals to
judge and jury, and abounding with apt legal citations in
support of his arguments. His voice is pleasing — full of
harmony, compass and power. His enunciation is clear and
distinct, and his loftier passages fall with telling effect upon
the ears of his hearers. In hurling back the attacks of op-
posing counsel and in the searching examination of wit-
nesses, few lawyers possess so happy a faculty. His face
shows not only pleasantness, but earnestness and sincerity,
and glows with animation when defending the cause of his
client. On the whole, his legal abilities as a practicing law-
yer are of a high order, and are still shining forth with in-
creasing brilliancy from year to year.

In 1875 Mr. Burlingame married Miss Emma P. Watson,
a young lady of many virtues and accomplishments, daugh-
ter of the late Hon. Rufus W. Watson, of Catskill, N. Y.,
and their home is cheered and blessed with the presence
and playfulness of four bright and interesting children,
while they mourn one who died in infancy.

EDWIN K. BURNHAM.

A BUSY, representative man, who has faithfully served
his country both in a military and civil capacity, is
the Hon. Edwin K. Burnham, the present careful, efficient
superintendent of public buildings of the state of New York,
whose official residence is now in Albany. In his veins flow the
blood of the loyal, patriotic, enterprising race of New Eng-
landers. Vermont is his native state, and in the rural town
of Randolph — named, we believe, in honor of the famous
Virginian orator and statesman John Randolph — he was
born on the 8th of September, 1839. His father at one
time was a member of the Vermont legislature.

After first attending the common schools of his native
place, when a mere child he was sent to the academy at
Royalton, Vt., where he spent several terms closely pursu-
ing his studies and showing more than ordinary progress
among youthful students in the attainment of knowledge.
His classical course was afterward completed in the Orange
county, Vt.j grammar school.

He first established himself at Newark, a flourishing vil-
lage in Wayne county, N. Y., where his reputation as a
young man of high and honorable principles and of a pub-
lic-spirited nature soon brought him into favorable notice
and gained for him the full confidence of his townsmen.

Edwin K. Burnham.

Naturally of a judicial turn of mind, it was easy for
him to turn his attention to the study of the law as a
congenial profession. And accordingly, with this object
in view, he came to Albany in the spring of 1862, and
attended one term in the excellent and popular law school
here.

But amidst the stirring scenes of the civil war, when the
nation was thrilled with horror and our veins were chilled
with fear, young Burnham felt that it was his duty to tem-
porarily relinquish his law studies, and follow the flag of the
Union through battle-fields to hard-won victory. In Sep-
tember, T862, he returned to his native state and imme-
diately enlisted in company C, Fifteenth Vermont volun-
teers, a nine months’ regiment. He served as sergeant and
was mustered out with the regiment, August 6, 1863. He
was engaged in several skirmishes, and bravely fought side
by side with the Green Mountain boys in the terrific strug-
gle for victory on the ever-memorable field of Gettys-
burg.

In the fall of 1863, shortly after his regiment had been
mustered out, he returned to Albany and resumed his legal
studies. He graduated from the Albany law school in the
spring of 1864, and soon afterward was admitted to the bar
at the general term of the supreme court, in Albany. At
Newark, in the summer of 1864, he formed a law partner-
ship with J. E. Briggs.

Again the ardor of his patriotic spirit was rekindled, and
while the government needed more loyal defenders he
'•could not remain longer from the field of strife. In August
and September (1864") he recruited a company at Newark,
and in the following October joined the One Hundred and
Eleventh regiment, New York volunteers. He was at once

Noted Living Albanians.

assigned, as captain, to the command of company D of that
regiment. Captain Burnham remained with his gallant,
well-disciplined regiment until it was mustered out in June,
1865, taking part in all the engagements in which it par-
ticipated.

At the close of the war Captain Burnham returned to
Newark, where he met with a warm reception among his
friends and the loyal citizens of old Wayne county. There
with active mind he resumed the duties of the legal pro-
fession, and soon secured a large and lucrative practice, be-
sides enjoying the confidence and esteem of all who knew
him for his personal worth, his general intelligence, his
sound judgment in matters of law, and his creditable war
record.

In 1874 he was elected supervisor of Arcadia; an office
which was again bestowed upon him in 1883 and in 1884.

His sterling qualities of head and heart and his impartial-
ity in the transaction of business matters between man and
man caused his selection as a most suitable candidate for
justice of the peace. He was elected by a flattering ma-
jority; and for eight years filled that office with great satis-
faction to all classes.

In politics Mr. Burnham was a republican until 1866,
when he joined the democratic party, in the interest of
which he has since acted with broad and liberal principles
rather than a narrow partisan spirit.

In the course of his studious, industrious career Mr. Burn-
ham has shown considerable ability as a newspaper writer
and manager. In 1872, in connection with James Jones,
he started a democratic campaign paper which was after-
wards called the Newark Union and which became a regular
democratic paper. He was the responsible editor of that

Edwin K. Burnham.

paper until 1875, when Mr. Jones assumed its entire con-
trol and management.

Mr. Burnham’s popularity continuing to increase among
the people of his adopted county, he was, in the fall of 1884,
elected to the assembly from the second district of Wayne

— usually largely republican — by a plurality of 135 over
Chester F. Sweezey, the republican nominee. In the as-
sembly he was a useful working member, and served with
credit on the committee of railroads, etc. When in the
legislature he secured the passage of a bill establishing the
custodial asylum for feeble-minded women at Newark,
Wayne county. New York — now a large state institution

— and is a member of the board of trustees of the institu-
tion. In the fall of 1885 he ran for county judge and re-
duced the usual republican majority of 2,000 to 500.

After the expiration of his legislative term Mr. Burnham
continued his professional work as a lawyer in the village of
Newark until he was again called into public service as a
state official. June i, 1889, he was appointed to his pres-
ent position of honor and responsibility as superintendent
of public buildings. On assuming his duties he adopted
several new rules and regulations conducive to the more
perfect working order in his office at the capitol. One of
these rules, suggestive of patriotic zeal, was his directing
that from the tall staff on the capitol building should be
displayed every week day, from sunrise till sunset, the stars
and stripes. And to him belongs the honor of having
originated the plan now so extensively adopted, of having the
national flag unfurled over our public school buildings.

Simple in his manners, sincere in his friendships, and
earnest in his efforts to administer the affairs of his office
with efficiency and honesty, Mr. Burnham seems to be ad-

Noted Living Albanians.

mirably qualified to adorn the position for which he has
been carefully selected by the trustees of public buildings
of the state of New York.

He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and
several other organizations. In 1865 he married Nancy
Dillingham of Randolph, Vermont. They have three chil-
dren, two sons and a daughter.

NORTON CHASE.

Among the rising young men of Albany who have re-
flected no little credit upon their native city by their
earnest efforts for the advancement of worthy causes, is the
H on, Norton Chase. Born in this city on the 3d of Sep-
tember, 1861, he is a son of Nelson H. Chase, a useful and
respected citizen of Albany. From his earliest youth he
was inclined to study, and when a mere child he became a
pupil in the Albany academy, where he devoted himself
with great ardor to study, and made rapid progress in as-
cending the hill of science. Seldom, indeed, has that ex-
cellent institution been favored with a more diligent and
successful student. His school-boy days were those of
pleasantness and of increasing attractions for intellectual
culture. Learning was no drudgery to him ; and with an
ease and quickness unusual in most students of his years,
he was fully prepared when the hours of recitation came;
consequently he always stood among the best scholars in
his classes, and when he graduated in 1878, he went forth
from the academy with the highest honors, having taken five
gold medals. In the same year he entered Yale college and
carried on his studies there with a view principally to select-
ing the law as a profession, towards which his natural taste
led him. On leaving Yale college he returned home and
7

Noted Living Albanians.

entered the Albany law school. From this excellent and
flourishing institution he graduated in 1882 with the degree
of LL.B., and was admitted to the bar.

In the opening of his legal career Mr. Chase was most
fortunate in forming business relations with the late Judge
Samuel Hand, one of the most eminent and accomplished
jurists that ever graced the Albany bar. In his office he
began the practice of law, and continued it with growing
satisfaction and success, acquiring a high standing at the bar.
Soon after the death of Judge Hand in 1886, Mr. Chase
formed a co-partnership with Mr. Frank B. Delehanty un-
der the firm name of Chase & Delehanty. This energetic,
popular firm still continues, succeeding to much of the prac-
tice of Judge Hand, and having worked up a large and
lucrative clientage.

Their practice has been of a nature unusual for so young a
firm, and has been uniformly successful. Mr. Chase early
'appeared before the court of appeals and has argued im-
portant causes there, as well as at the general term of the
supreme court, while in the surrogate’s court the firm has
had charge of the important contests arising in the wills of
the late Robert Higgins, Weare C. Little and John L.
Oliver. In recent days its successful litigation with the
Lamson Consolidated Store Service Company, involving over
twenty different cases, two of which involved $1,000,000
each, has brought much credit to this active firm.

As a politician, Mr. Chase was early and thoroughly
trained in the Jeflersonian school of democracy, and like
Judge Hand, his able adviser and much-beloved friend, he has
always been strongly attached to the principles of his party,
following them with unswerving fidelity and advocating
them with marked ability on many occasions. He is, in

Norton Chase.

every respect, a thorough democrat, without hypocrisy and
without guile.

In 1885 Mr. Chase was nominated as a democratic mem-
ber of assembly in the third district, and after a stirring
canvass he was elected by a majority of 1,978 ever his op-
ponent Harmon Pumpelly Read — an increase of 800 over
the usual democratic majority, and carrying every election
district in the assembly district, a victory never achieved
before. This was certainly a splendid triumph for a young
man just entering the field of politieal warfare. His legis-
lative reeord in the assembly of 1886 was creditable and
consistent, marked with steady adherence to democratic
principles, to the interests of his constituents, and to the
welfare of the eity of Albany and its workingmen. He
served as a member of the eommittee on judieiary, military
affairs, two-thirds and three-fifths bills and the assembly
committee of the whole.

In the House his voiee was soon heard and his influence
felt. He performed admirable work and attraeted much
attention for the zeal and earnestness which he infused into
all his actions. No better friend of the people and the peo-
ple’s interests ever sat in a legislature. His course at the
close of the session received^ the deserved approval even
of those politieally opposed to him.

A ready debater, a pleasing speaker, happy in his ehoice
of language, and well versed in the scienee of polities as
well as of law, his talents were soon recognized and appre-
ciated in the legislature and he became an influential,
studious and hard-working member. He took part in the
principal debates on leading questions before the house,
and showed himself to be a true and reliable friend and a
staunch advocate of the interests of organized labor. Mr.

Noted Living Albanians.

Chase has since given his support and counsel to the party
which has now honored him and honored itself. He has been
a delegate to many of its conventions and has nominated
many successful candidates for office, and in the last demo-
'cratic state convention placed in nomination Mayor Maher of
this city, in a speech which was greatly applauded. Mr. Chase
has also spoken for his party in all the campaigns of recent
years, and in the presidential election of 1888, was one of
the orators on board the Thomas Jefferson, which made the
celebrated trip down the canal from Buffalo to Albany. In
the fall of 1887 Mr. Chase Avas nominated for senator in the
seventeenth senatorial district, and the contest between
him and his republican opponent, Henry Russell, was one
of the most memorable in senatorial annals. After a bitter
fight in the courts, Mr. Russell was declared to have been
elected by a plurality of 8, and thus the political storm Avas
temporarily abated.

Two years later, at the democratic county convention,
which met at the city hall, October 18, 1889, he AA^as re-
nominated by acclamation as his party’s candidate, and the
voters of the district expressed their opinion of the legal
decision of tAvo years ago by electing him by a majority of
3,151 over his republican opponent. Major George H.
Treadwell.

In the present senate, of which he is the youngest mem-
ber, he was made a member of the committees on insurance,
general laws, public buildings, world’s fair and poor laAvs.

He at once took a leading part in senatorial debate,
speaking often, earnestly, and forcibly on all important
measures and gaining a high reputuation as a model legis-
lator. Among the bills Avhich he introduced and Avhich
have become laws are the following: To appropriate

Norton Chase.

$365,000 for continuing work on the capitol ; the general
registration act ; to amend the act incorporating relig-
ious and charitable societies ; in relation to Baptist and
Congregational churches ; to provide for the purchase of
the Rensselaerwyck rifle-range; to authorize Cohoes to
improve her water-works ; defining the titles of the com-
missioners of Washington park : relative to the govern-
ment of public parks in Albany; amending the Hawk
street viaduct act in relation to assessments ; to amend
the act incorporating Cohoes ; allowing Christian asso-
ciations to be free from taxation of property used for
their specific purposes ; incorporating the New York and
New England Agricultural and Industrial Society.

Mr. Chase is a member of many clubs and societies and is
a trustee of the Albany Exchange Savings bank. He has
also manifested great interest in military matters. In 1881
he was commissioned first lieutenant and appointed adju-
tant of the Tenth battalion, and in 1886, was elected major
of the same organization, which position he still holds.

Mr. Chase on June 22, 1887, married Mabel Louise,
daughter of Henry L. James, Esq., of Williamsburgh, Mass.

Senator Chase possesses a genial, sunny disposition, and
enjoys the confidence and esteem of hosts of friends for his
excellent social qualities, his strict integrity and many other
traits which enter into the formation of a true manhood.
As years pass, such men are bound to rise higher and higher
in public estimation, and to receive well-merited honors at
the hands of their fellow-citizens. .

ALDEN CHESTER.

A WELL-KNOWN, industrious, painstaking lawyer of
this city, whose early struggles in life and well-directed
efforts to secure an education have been crowned with suc-
cess in his chosen profession, is Alden Chester. Born at West-
ford, a small village in Otsego county, N. Y., September 4,
1848, he is the youngest of four sons of Alden Chester. His
father was born at New London, Conn., in 1803, and died
at Westford on the 4th of March, 1857. He was a public-
spirited man, of a noble nature, and a true friend of educa-
tion. At first a cabinet-maker, he afterward carried on the
business of manufacturing sash, blinds and doors. The orig-
inal ancestor of this branch of the Chester family in this
country was Capt. Samuel Chester, who came from England
to Boston and removed to New London in 1633. He was
a prominent and well-educated man, a commander and
owner of ships in the West India trade, and was also a mer-
chant and land surveyor. He finally removed to Groton,
where he owned ground on which stands Fort Griswold and
the Groton monument, which his son John conveyed to the
government in 1777. He was also one of the commission-
ers of the general court in 1693 to settle the boundary be-
tween Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The mother of the present Mr. Chester was Susan G.

Alden Chester.

Draper. She was married to Mr. Alden Chester, senior, in
1838, and is still living at the old homestead in Westford,
in the 79th year of her age. She descended from James
Draper, who was the first of the Draper family to emigrate
to this country. . He came from England about 1643, and
was one of the early settlers of Roxbury, Mass.

Alden first attended the district school in his native place,
and a few years later the Westford Literary institute, at
that time a flourishing private academy, where he applied
himself diligently to his books, for which he had a great
liking. Ambitious to excel and apt in learning, he was
always ahead of his classes. What aided in the formation
of his literary taste, was the practical use which he made of
the public library at Westford, of which his father was one
of the founders, and which is still in existence. By the
death of his father, when Alden was a mere child, he was
mostly thrown upon his own resources, earning the money
which was necessary for carrying to a successful completion
his professional course of study. During a portion of the
time while at the Westford Literary institute, he was both
a student and a teacher, and he was also for a short time a
clerk in the country store and post-office at that place.
While studying and teaching, his health became impaired
by too intense mental application, and he was obliged tem-
porarily to s6ek a change of occupation. At about the age
of 18 he accepted a position as telegraph operator on the
old Albany and Susquehanna railroad, receiving only a week’s
instruction in this art before taking entire charge of an
office which he successfully conducted for two years. He.
next went to Boston where he was employed for a year by
his brother as a clerk in the office of the ALtna. Life Insur-
ance Company. While in the literary metropolis of New

Noted Living Albanians.

England his attention was turned to the study of the law,
for which he had a predilection. Without entering any law
office there as a student, he employed all the time he could
command in reading such legal treatises as were recom-
mended to him by a lawyer with whom he boarded. After
having acquired a knowledge of the elementary principles
of the profession he was choosing as a life work, he went to
New York and entered the justly celebrated Columbia col-
lege law school — one of the best institutions of the kind in
the country — where under the masterly instruction of Pro-
fessors Theodore W. Dwight, Francis Lieber and other dis-
tinguished instructors, he enjoyed rare opportunities for
legal study — opportunities which he was not slow to em-
brace with the greatest ardor. To assist him financially, he
became a frequent correspondent for the newspapers during
his first year of student life in the metropolis, and devoted
the vacation preceding his closing year to editing a weekly
newspaper in Otsego county.

Mr. Chester graduated from the Columbia college law
school with the class of 1871, and in May of the same year
he was admitted to the bar at the general term of the su-
preme court in New York city. That he was a close, in-
dustrious student of the law, and well versed in its kindred
branches, was evinced on graduation day, when he took a
prize of $75 in the department of political science, that
being one of only five prizes given to a graduating class of
ninety-nine. The prize was awarded on the combined
merits of a graduating essay and the final examinations.
Dr. Lieber was then professor of constitutional history and
public law in the department of political science in the law
school ; and to him Mr. Chester was greatly indebted for
much of the valuable instruction which he received in that

Alden Chester.

department. He deeply cherishes the memory of that pro-
found scholar, renowned teacher and author, who died in
1872, but whose works on “Civil Liberty and Self-Govern-
ment,” “ Political Ethics ” and Legal and Political Her-
meneutics,” will stand as enduring monuments to his gen-
ius and his memory. In an article in the Columbia
Jurist for February, 1886, Mr. Chester has given some
pleasing reminiscences of Dr. Lieber, in which he says :
“H is lectures were oral, but delivered from carefully
prepared notes. He always elucidated the subject in
hand in great detail, showing constant evidence of profound
study and deep research. His great familiarity with mat-
ters of history, his wonderful memory and his philosophical
treatment of every subject, made his lectures very entertain-
ing as well as instructive. We were indeed highly favored
who were permitted to prosecute the study of political
science under a teacher whose writings, as the Nation has
truthfully said, ‘ are universally regarded as among the
most important contributions in the English language to
the science of politics.’ ”

On receiving his legal diploma Mr. Chester immediately
came to Albany — where he has since resided — and entered
into partnership with Andrew S. Draper, now state super-
intendent of public instruction, who was himself just com-
mencing the practice of law. From 1876 to 1882, Hon.
William S. Paddock was a member of the firm under the
name of Paddock, Draper & Chester. Since the retirement
of Mr. Draper in the spring of 1887, Mr. Chester has con-
tinued to practice alone, and by a faithful discharge of his
professional duties he has secured a large clientage and is
doing a successful business.

In politics Mr. Chester is a republican, and though not a

Noted Living Albanians.

frequent aspirant for political honors and emoluments, he
has already, though comparatively a young man, filled in a
most creditable manner, several important places of public
trust and responsibility, and rendered efficient service to his
party. In 1874 and in 1876 he was deputy clerk of the
New York state assembly; and for several years he was a
member and secretary of the republican general committee
of Albany county. In educational matters in our city he
has taken a deep interest. On the expiration of the term
of the late Hon. Charles P. Easton as member of the board
of public instruction, Mr. Chester was chosen in his place ;
and during his last year of service he was elected and served
as president of the board. In 1881, Mr. Chester in connec-
tion with Mr. Dc^uw H. Fonda, was an earnest worker in a
cause for which intelligent Albanians will ever be grateful,
and that was a successful effort in inducing the board of
education to throw open the High school library — too
long isolated and neglected — to all who may desire to con-
sult its valuable treasures, and thus to render it more effec-
tive as a factor in the general education of the people.
Since that time this library has been free to the public as a
circulating library.

In 1882 Mr. Chester was appointed by Attorney-General
Benjamin H. Brewster, assistant United States attorney for
the northern district of New York, under the Hon. Martin
I. Townsend, United States attorney. While serving in
this capacity Mr. Chester tried on behalf of the government
many, important cases in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Au-
burn, Utica and Albany. Many of these cases were of
great public interest, and the manner in which he conducted
them reflected no little credit upon him and evinced his
legal ability, his remarkable industry and his sound judgment.

Alden Chester.

In 1885 in consequence of the appointment by President
Arthur of his partner, Mr. Draper, as judge of the court
of Alabama claims, Mr. Chester resigned his office as
assistant United States attorney that he might more
fully attend to the growing law business of his firm. On
retiring from his office he received a public recognition by
the United States court, over which Judge Coxe presided,
for his faithful performance of duty, as well as the following
graceful tribute from the venerable Martin I. Townsend:

“ PTom the day of your entrance upon your official duties
until now, our social and official intercourse have been with-
out a cloud, and in parting with you I feel that I am sus-
taining a great personal loss. Allow me to say further that
I feel that your resignation is also a loss to the government
as well as to myself. I take this occasion to bear witness
to the judicious and faithful manner in which you have dis-
charged your official duties, as well in the labors of the
office, as in the courts where the eye of the public was upon
you and where your conduct has commended you to the
judges, to the bar and to the attendants in the halls of
justice.”

In Mr. Chester’s private practice he has been connected
with many important cases, only a few of which can be men-
tioned. He was counsel for the relators hi People^ ex rel.
James Youngs v. Edward Roark^ and in People, ex rel. John
Greer, v. James Carlisle, in which the title to the offices of
supervisor and alderman of the seventh ward of this city
was tried, and the relators in each instance decided to be
entitled to the offices. He successfully conducted a con-
siderable number of mandamus cases against the state comp-
troller in 1878, to determine the amount of compensation
to which the officers and employees of the legislature were

Noted Living Albanians.

entitled. He was one of the counsel for the sitting mem-
ber, when the legislative seat of Hon. A. S. Draper was
contested by Daniel Casey, a case which involved the right
of a member of the board of public instruction to a seat in
the assemblv. Later he was counsel for Hon. Georg-e S.

✓ o

Weed, when his seat in the assembly was contested, on the
ground that he was ineligible to the office of member of
assembly, under the constitution because of holding the
office of United States commissioner. In both cases the
assembly decided the sitting members eligible and entitled
to their seats. Mr. Chester recently acted as counsel for
the relators in the Second avenue assessment cases, con-
ducting them successfully through all the courts, the court
of appeals finally deciding the assessment void. He has
also been engaged in many important patent litigations and
contested will cases. While conducting a general law practice,
he numbers among his clients several life and fire insurance
companies and has in recent years been engaged as counsel
for the companies in many important life and fire insurance
cases. In 1883 he compiled and annotated the insurance
laws of the state for the state insurance department. He
has also conducted a very considerable business in the man-
agement of estates and trusts and has acted as referee in
various important suits. He has a large and well-selected
law library, which is the lawer’s right arm in the successful
prosecution of his duties.

In seeking occasional relaxation from the severe and con-
fining labors of professional life, Mr. Chester enjoys, in a
true Waltonian spirit, the pleasures of angling and is an ex-
pert with the rod and the reel. He also delights in the
exciting and healthful sports of the marksman, and is a
good shot with a rifle.

Alden Chester.

His career is like that of many of the professional men of
our country, who by their early toil and persistent efforts
under adverse surroundings, have risen to distinction. In-
dustry has ever marked his pathway ; and without preten-
tious display he moves serenely along, both through the
storms and sunshine of life, attending faithfully to the
duties of the passing hour. In public speaking he is ready,
earnest and deliberate, presenting his subject in a clear,
strong light, with well-chosen words, calculated to engage
the close attention of his hearers, and to carry conviction
to their minds. He has delivered quite a number of Inde-
pendence and Memorial day addresses ; spoken on educa-
tional and miscellaneous topics, and taken an active part in
several political campaigns. With a retentive memory he
draws largely for illustrations from the intellectual treasures
with which he early stored his mind. Self-reliant, indepen-
dent, and unyielding in his belief of what is right or wrong,
he exhibits the characteristics of the cultured man and the
useful citizen, governed by high and honorable principles,
which are the guide, inspiration and solace of a true life.

FREDERICK COOK.

MAN who has reflected great honor upon American
^ institutions, is the Hon. Frederick Cook, ex-secre-
tary of state of New York. He is a striking representa-
tive of the best type of a German citizen whose leading
traits of character have been fully developed upon Ameri-
can soil. He was born on the 2nd of December, 1833, ^-t Wild-
bad, Germany, a noted watering place in the famous Black
Forest district. His father was a contractor, a man who in-
tended to have given his son Frederick the advantages of a
thorough collegiate course. The boy was placed at the best
school in the neighborhood, and his youthful years were
earnestly devoted to the elementary branches of learning.
The industrious young student was increasing rapidly in
knowledge from year to year, with the brightest prospects
before him, when suddenly a dark cloud overshadowed his
opening literary career and dashed to the ground his hopes
of obtaining a complete collegiate education. When he had
reached his twelfth year, his excellent father, who had taken
so deep an interest in the instruction of his promising son,
died, leaving a family of eight children. By this irreparable
loss the happy home was broken up and the children scat-
tered abroad. Without a father’s watchful care, Frederick
was left at this tender age almost entirely to his own re-

Frederick Cook.

sources. But with a brave heart and an indomitable will,
he faced the storm of life until the sunshine of success
and prosperity came to gladden his pathway. He turned
his eyes towards America, as the chosen field for his future
activity and work, and so, bidding adieu to the dear old
“fatherland” in the year 1848, at the age of fifteen, he
sailed for the United States. Here he made his home for
a short time with a married sister in Buffalo. He was not
long idle. Inheriting the industrious qualities of the Ger-
man people he was fully determined to learn some trade or
engage in some useful occupation. He first tried the shoe-
making trade, but this not suiting his tastes, he next entered
the service of a butcher at the village of Batavia, N. Y.
Young Cook was a boy who always performed with faithful-
ness and to the best of his ability, every duty assigned to
him ; and this is the great secret of his success in life. His
traits of character were at this period carefully noticed by
D. W. Tomlinson, president of the Batavia bank, and also
largely interested in railroads. He at once obtained for him,
because of his knowledge of the German language, a place in
the employment of the Buffalo and Rochester railroad.
From this stepping-stone, the young man of eighteen was
soon to rise higher. The same energy and vigilance, for
which he was ever noted, were fully manifested by him in
this humble employment. He was soon promoted to the
position of a conductor of an emigrant train on the Roch-
ester, Lockport and Niagara Falls division of the New York
Central railroad. While acti^ig in this capacity, his knowl-
edge of the German language was of great advantage
to him in conversing with the emigrants from his own
native land, who were traveling westward to find new
homes in this free country. He gave the strangers much

Noted Living Albanians.

valuable information and many useful directions. The
railroad company also greatly appreciated his services
in this respect, and a further promotion was ready for him.
He was made a passenger conductor. His railroad career
covered a period of nearly twenty years, during all of which
time he made many friends among the traveling public by
his courteous manners and his faithful performance of duty.
Gaining a thorough practical knowledge of human nature,
he possessed the tact and ability to overcome all obstacles,
and to advance the best interests of the railroad system ;
and when he retired from the service as a railroad man, he
received the warmest thanks of his employers and experi-
enced the consciousness of having done his duty well.

When tendering his resignation on December 15, 1871,
to take effect January i, 1872, he was presented by his fel-
low employees and patrons of the road with an elaborate
set of solid silver plate, thus testifying to the high esteem
in which he was held by those with whom he had come in
contact.

Mr. George M. Pullman is one of Mr. Cook’s most inti-
mate personal friends. On the organization of the “Pull-
man Car Company,” Mr. Cook thought so favorably of the
enterprise that he invested the most of his accumulated sav-
ings in the concern. By his careful study of the railroad
system and his far-sightedness and sound judgment, he saw
the ultimate success of this new enterprise, which was des-
tined to add so much to the comfort of the traveling public.
It was a most fortunate investment for Mr. Cook and added
much to his financial prosperity. The struggles of the
young, industrious and enterprising lad, so early deprived
of his father’s care and love, were signally crowned with
success in the land of his adoption, in whose political inter-

Frederick Cook. • 65

ests he was also shortly to be called to take a prominent
part.

In 1870 he was appointed excise commissioner of Roches-
ter, by Hon. John Lutes, mayor. But long and arduous
labors had made serious inroads upon his naturally robust
constitution, and in order to recuperate his failing strength,
he was obliged to resign this office and sailed for Europe
with his family in 1872. He visited many places of interest
in the old world, but none were so dear to him as the sight
of the old homestead and the spot where reposes the dust
of his beloved parents. Returning to the United States in
the autumn of 1873, with his health re-established, he was
now to enter upon a public career. His politics were thor-
oughly democratic, of the Jeffersonian school; and being
nominated by his party as mayor of Rochester, in a strong-
hold of republicanism he came within a few hundred votes
of being elected, so great was his personal popularity. He
interested himself deeply in the various manufacturing in-
terests of the young and growing city of his adoption,
among which was the Bartholomay Brewing Company.
This company was organized in 1874 with a capital of
$250,000, and Mr. Cook was chosen its vice-pi*esident, a posi-
tion which he still holds. In 1876 he was elected president
of the Rochester German Insurance Company, managing
with rare executive and financial ability its affairs to the
present time. During the same year he was chosen presi-
dent of the Rochester Driving Park Association, whose
financial interests he has advanced from the lowest to the
highest degree. In 1882 he was elected to the presidency
of the Bank of Rochester, which has since been re-organized
as the German- American bank, he remaining at the head.
From this time many political honors were conferred upon
9

Noted Living Albanians.

him. He was looked upon by his party as one of its best
and strongest representatives, and called from the walks of
a private life to take a leading part in directing public
affairs. And no man was more worthy of the confidence of
his party or his fellow-citizens, regardless of party, than
Frederick Cook, for all his public and private acts were
conducted on the broad principles of justice and integrity.
The various offices sought him, not he the offices, and the
responsibilities he has shared in public life have already
been various and arduous, as they have been important and
honorable.

In 1872 Governor Hoffman appointed Mr. Cook judge-
advocate, with rank of colonel, of the Seventh division of
the National Guard, State of New York; and three years
later Governor Tilden conferred a similar honor upon him,
that of assistant adjutant-general and chief of staff, of the
same division.

In 1876 Mr. Cook was a delegate to the national conven-
tion which met at St. Louis and nominated Samuel J. Til-
den for the presidency. Four years later he was a delegate
to the Cincinnati convention which placed General Hancock
at the head of the national ticket. Mr. Cook took an active
part in the proceedings of this gathering and was the vice-
president of the convention, representing the state of New
York.

In 1880 Governor Cornell appointed him a manager of
the Western House of Refuge, and Governor Cleveland re-
appointed him to the same position in 1883. At the same
time he was chosen a trustee of the Rochester Savings
bank.

In 1885 Mr. Cook was nominated by the democratic
party for secretary of state, and after a stirring canvass was

Frederick Cook.

triumphantly elected by a majority of 14,608, over Colonel
Anson S. Wood. His services during his first term of office
were so acceptable to his party and the people generally
that the democratic convention at Saratoga in the fall of
1887 renominated him, against his own wishes, and he was
elected over Colonel Frederick Grant, receiving the highest
plurality of any candidate on the democratic ticket, 17,677, a
striking evidence of his great popularity throughout the state.

In the spring of 1889 Secretary Cook was brought ‘‘nigh
unto death,” by an attack of pneumonia contracted while
attending the centennial celebration of the first president of
the United States in New York city. For several weeks
his life was despaired of,- but his vigorous constitution pre-
vailed and he slowly recovered. When he had gained suffi-
cient strength, he once more visited his old home, Wildbad,
and also Marienbad. There he spent the summer pleasantly,
and returned to America in September, with health greatly
recruited. He declined a renomination in the fall of 1889,
for secretary of state, and on the ist of January, 1890, re-
tired from public life to enjoy a much needed repose in his
home at Rochester, with the best wishes of the people of
the state, whose interests he had so faithfully served.

In takfng formal leave of his associate state officers in
the executive chamber on the 31st of December, 1889, Mc-
Cook was presented by Governor Hill, in a graceful speech,
with an elegant, costly gold watch with chime attachments
on behalf of his associates — Comptroller Wemple, retiring
Treasurer Fitzgerald, Attorney-General Tabor, Treasurer-
elect Danforth, State Engineer Bogart, Commissioner Peck,
Deputy Secretary of State Willers, etc.

At the close of Mr. Cook’s official term the deputy secre-
tary of state, in behalf of the clerical force of the office, pre-

Noted Living Albanians.

sented to him a group of photographs of the attaches of the
secretary’s office who had served with him during his
administration, which was inclosed in an elegant frame of
antique oak, and is greatly prized by Mr. Cook.

In 1887 the Rochester Title Insurance Company was
organized and Mr. Cook was elected to its presidency.

He is a thirty-second degree Free Mason and has held
various offices of honor in the order.

Secretary Cook lives in a handsome residence on East
avenue, Rochester, which is presided over by his wife and
daughter. He was married in 1853 to Miss Catherine Yaky
of Rome, N. Y., who died in 1864. His present wife was
Miss Barbara Agne, to whom he was united in marriage
in 1865.

His career affords another illustration how, under our
form of government, even the humblest citizen may attain
the highest positions of honor and trust.

EDGAR COTRELL.

An Albanian, widely and favorably known as a repre-
sentative man, who has contributed largely toward
the development of a special industry in our city, is Edgar
Cotrell of the firm of Cotrell & Leonard, extensive whole-
sale and retail dealers in furs and kindred goods.

It is always interesting to trace the ancestry and personal
career of any one who, by earnest, persevering and honora-
ble efforts, has obtained marked and permanent success in
some useful calling or profession in life. In the subject of
the present sketch we have an illustration of some of the
more striking characteristics of New England men and their
descendants. He is a son of the late Joshua G. Cotrell, a
native of Massachusetts, who was born in 1804, and who,
in 1836, married Cornelia, daughter of Dr. Jabez Wilkinson.
Joshua G. Cotrell was a man of great pluck, enterprise and
high character, who at the age of twenty-two came to
Albany and established, on a small scale, the business which
is now so largely and successfully carried on by his son Ed-
gar and the Messrs. Leonard. His death, which occurred
in 1878, was deeply lamented, while his name is still highly
cherished by many of our citizens.

The grandfather of Edgar Cotrell, on his father’s side,
was Oliver Cotrell, of Hancock, Berkshire county, Mass.,

Noted Living Albanians.

who married Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Gardner, a
descendant of Samuel Sewall, the companion and friend
of Miles Standish. His great-grandfather was Joseph Cot-
rell, of Wickford, R. I., who married Hannah, daughter of
Judge Nichols, a resident of Newport, R. I., during the rev-
olutionary war, in 1780, and who is described as having been
the ‘^owner of much real estate.”

Edgar Cotrell was born in the city of Albany on the
15th of January, 1838. He received his education at the
Albany academy and at Williamstown, Mass. As a clerk
in his father’s store, he formed his taste for business and
laid the foundation of his high mercantile reputation. He
adopted his father’s occupation as a means of living, and
followed it with close devotion and untiring perseverance.
Having thus early chosen his life-long pursuit, and having
already gained considerable experience under the direction
of his father, he was admitted into partnership in 1859.

Young Cotrell was not long in mastering the details of
the business, and took a lively interest in assisting in its de-
velopment and prosperity. In the meantime, from small
beginnings the retail trade of the house had increased so
steadily and largely that it was deemed necessary to estab-
lish a wholesale department in connection with it — a de-
partment which is still continued with much success. The
firm of Cotrell & Son kept on flourishing all through those
dark and troublesome days when the storm of civil war was
raging in the south, and the exciting incidents connected
with it were stirring the hearts of the American people.

In 1867, two years after the close of the war, the firm was
changed to that of J. G. Cotrell & Co., by the admission
of Daniel Leonard as a partner.

In 1870, this firm erected the building No. 46 State street,

Edgar Cotrell.

where they continued to carry on an excellent trade for
fourteen years. In 1878, on the death of Joshua G. Cotrell,
a new copartnership' was established between Edgar Cotrell
and Daniel Leonard, under the firm name of Cotrell &
Leonard, which still continues to exist. On account of the
remarkable growth of their business Messrs. Cotrell &
Leonard removed, in 1884, to their present elegant five-
story marble building at Nos. 472-476 Broadway, which is
one of the most desirable locations for such a business in
the city. Here the trade of the firm has reached vast di-
mensions, especially in the wholesale lines, the sales yearly
aggregating over a quarter of a million dollars.

The customers of this house are not confined to Albany
and the surrounding country, but may be found in many
distant places — in New York state, Pennsylvania, Massa-
chusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, etc.

This house, as we have seen, was established sixty years
ago by Joshua G. Cotrell, on the principles of economy, en-
terprise, fair and honorable dealings — principles which con-
tinue to be recognized as of prime importance in the con-
duct of business by his successors, whose highest aim is not
only to develop a useful industry on a grand scale, but also
to give the fullest satisfaction to all classes of their numer-
ous customers.

In 1861 Mr. Edgar Cotrell married Miss Charlotte Hadley,
a lady of culture and refinement, with winning social quali-
ties, daughter of the late William J. Hadley, Esq., a cele-
brated lawyer. Mr. and Mrs. Cotrell, with their two beauti-
ful and accomplished daughters, reside in the old family
mansion. No. 172 State street, which is quite famed for its
charming hospitality.

P'or sixty years the Cotrell family have attended the old

Noted Living Albanians.

Second Presbyterian church on Chapel street, where the
present Mr. Cotrell is president of the board of trustees.

Mr. Cotrell is a trustee of the Homoeopathic hospital and
of the Albany Orphan asylum ; president of the Albany
City Savings Institution, and of the Albany Safe Deposit
and Storage Company; and vice-president of the City Na-
tional bank, where he passes his time daily during banking
hours.

Success has crowned Mr. Cotrell’s mercantile work, while
in the very prime of life, and as a banker he has already ex-
hibited qualities of a high order — honest, systematic and
straight-forward in all his financial transactions — with un-
tiring efforts to advance the prosperity of the banking-house
with which he is connected ; well meriting the universal
confidence reposed in him. And it is but just to say here,
that in all the other public trusts with which he has been
honored by his fellow-citizens, he has shown careful man-
agement, sound judgment, rare ability and a watchful re-
gard for the best interests of others.

In his personal manners Mr. Cotrell is plain and easily
approachable, with generous impulses and a kindly feeling
for all. He is a lover of simplicity and sincerity, and a
despiser of ostentation or insincerity in any form.

Since the above sketch was written it is our painful duty
to announce the sudden death of Mr. Cotrell, which occurred
in the night of the 15th of April, 1890. He had retired to
his room about ii o’clock, apparently in good health, but
was suddenly stricken with apoplexy and died before touch-
ing his bed.

Edgar Cotrell.

“The cry at midnight came,

He started up to hear;

A mortal arrow pierced his frame —

He fell, but felt no fear.

“ His spirit with a bound,

Left its encumbering clay
His tent at sunrise on the ground,

A darkened ruin lay.”

A happy family where mutual love reigned supreme was
thus suddenly plunged into the deepest sorrow, while
Albany lost one of its best, most esteemed, most active
citizens. His memory will always be highly cherished by
all who knew him. As one very justly remarks :

“ Mr. Cotrell possessed an unusually happy and lovely
disposition. He was a man who always won not only re-
spect, but genuine love from every person with whom he
came in contact. In business affairs his diligence, upright-
ness and tact had won for him a leading place, and made
him the trusted adviser of many. Those who sought his
counsel found in him always valuable advice and a large-
hearted sympathy and kindliness which endeared him to
them forever. Few men have been called to fill so many
responsible places of trust, and none have acquitted them-
selves more honorably than did Edgar Cotrell.”
lO

ELLIOT DANFORTH

Among the notable men connected with the service of
the state in an official relation, is the Hon. Elliot
Danforth, state treasurer.

Born at Middleburg, Schoharie county, N. Y., on the 6th
of March, 1850, he spent his earliest years amidst the rural
scenes of his native place, and under the care of loving
parents. He is the youngest son of Judge Peter S. Dan-
forth of Middleburg, who was born on the 19th of June,
1816, in the village of Middleburg, and who in his declining
life is enjoying the happy consciousness of having served
his country faithfully in civil, educational and religious mat-
ters. He was fitted for college at the Kinderhook academy,
N. Y., where he won a prize for proficiency in the classics
when only fourteen years old. In 1837 he was graduated
from Union college, under the presidency of Dr. Eliphalet
Nott, who was then in the zenith of his fame and useful-
ness as an educator. He studied law in the office of the
Hon. Robert McClellan, at that time member of congress
from Schoharie county ; and also in the office of Marcus T.
Reynolds of Albany, one of the most eminent lawyers of
this city. He formed a partnership with Judge Lyman. San-
ford of Schoharie, which existed for fourteen years.

Among the offices he has held are those of district at-

Elliot Danforth.

torney for Schoharie county in 1845 5 state senator from
Delaware and Schoharie in 1853 5 judge-advocate of the
1 8th brigade for fourteen years, and a justice of the supreme
court, a position to which he was appointed in 1872, by
Governor Hoffman. The father of Judge Peter S. Dan-
forth was George Danforth, who was born in Albany, on the
site of the nev/ capitol, and who was a lawyer of marked
ability. He died at Savannah, Ga., in the midst of his active
duties, at the comparatively early age of forty-two. It has
been well said of the Danforth family, that it is one whose
history, as a family, is interwoven with the history of other
lands than this, and Edward Danforth Curtis, of Andover,
Mass., in an address which he delivered at the third family
reunion, after some allusions not wholly complimentary to
King Arthur and his famous “Knights of the Round Table,”
forcibly and poetically says of his ancestry : “As for our

lineage, the blood pf a sterner, sturdier race flows in our
veins. The Danforth family tree strikes its top-root down
into the subsoil of the conquering Teutonic race of Central
Europe, whose God was Woden, whose heaven was Wal-
halla, whose fierce valor overcame the disciplined armies of
Rome, and whose on-rush swept away like a flood the
mighty structure of the Imperial power and civilization.”
From his youth, Elliot Danforth, the subject of our
sketch, manifested a great desire for the acquisition of
knowledge, and his parents were determined to foster the
boy’s genius in this respect. At the public schools he was
noted for his studious habits, and his fine literary tastes
were thus early formed. After receiving a liberal education
he sought to improve his mind still further by travel, believ-
ing with Goldsmith, that “the volume of nature is the book
of knowledge ; and he becomes most wise who makes the

Noted Living Albanians.

most judicious selection.” Accordingly he turned his face
towards the west as the principal field of his observation,
and made two trips through that interesting, picturesque
and romantic region, going as far as the Pacific coast, care-
fully studying the manners and customs of the people, and
gazing with unbounded admiration upon the many grand,
natural objects along the route of his travels. Returning
to his native village, refreshed in body and invigorated in
mind, he commenced the study of the law in the office of
his father. And so closely and successfully did he devote
his time and attention to the great writers on legal science,
that in January, 1871, he was admitted to the bar. Well
grounded in the principles of the law, as well as in general
literature, and possessing an earnest and forcible delivery,
his success as a brilliant professional man was now fully as-
sured. Many emoluments and honors were in store for
him. But, in the meantime, he turned his attention to an-
other interesting subject of a social nature. In 1874, he
married Miss Ida Prince, an accomplished young lady, the
only child of Dr. Gervis Prince, president of the First Na-
tional bank of Bainbridge, N. Y. The union was one of
the happiest ever formed, and the home of Mr. Danforth is
brightened and cheered by all that elevates and ennobles the
calmer walks of a true domestic life.

Removing to the village of Bainbridge in the summer of
1878, Mr. Danforth formed a law partnership with the Hon.
George H. Winsor of that place. Considerable business
was done by this well-known firm, and young Danforth was
not long in achieving a widely-extended reputation in the
successful performance of his professional duties. His emi-
nent services were soon called into requisition by public
bodies. He was chosen a member of the committee on

Elliot Danforth.

prizes of the New York Bar association, and for three years
held the office of president of the corporation of Bain-
bridge — his fine literary tastes, strict integrity and acknowl-
edged ability marking him for such positions of honor and
trust.

Mr. Danforth now entered with great enthusiasm into
the broad field of politics. From the first his affiliations
were with the democratic party, and he came before the
people as a staunch representative of the young democracy
of the Jacksonian school. In 1880 he was a delegate to the
national democratic convention which met at Cincinnati and
nominated Gen. Hancock for the presidency. He was the
youngest member of the convention, and a good story is
told of him on that occasion. When about to enter the
hall, where none but delegates were admitted, his youthful
appearance was so striking and his right to be admitted into
the assembly so apparently questionable, that the sergeant-
at-arms stepped up to him, and touching him on the shoulder,
said : “ Boys are not admitted here.” But when his right
was asserted and established, the sergeant-at-arms was not a
little embarrassed, and with a suitable apology, and as bland a
smile as could be expected under the circumstances, told
the youthful member to go in just as soon as he pleased.

Mr. Danforth entered the arena of political conflict to re-
main there ; while at the same time he has continued to
gather gems of truth, wisdom and beauty from the wide
range of literary investigation as opportunity offers. In the
fall of 1880 he was unanimously nominated as the candidate
for congress from his district, but declined the honor. At
the same time his name was presented as a candidate for
state treasurer, and he received a very flattering support
from his friends. In 1884 he was also a delegate to the

Noted Living Albanians.

democratic national convention at Chicago, which nominated
Grover Cleveland for president ; and it need scarcely be
added that he was an ardent supporter of Cleveland’s elec-
tion, delivering many stirring addresses in different parts of
the state during that memorable and exciting campaign.

Soon after the election of the Hon. Lawrence J. Fitzgerald
as state treasurer, in 1885, Mr. Danforth was appointed
deputy state treasurer — an office whose duties he discharged
with such ability and success that Treasurer Fitzgerald, on'
his re-election, re-sfppointed him as deputy for the term of
two years, from the 1st of January, 1888. In the presi-
dential and New York state gubernatorial campaign of 1888,
Mr. Danforth delivered nearly thirty speeches in various
parts of the state in advocacy of the principles of democracy,
and in favor of the election of Cleveland and Thurman, Hill
and Jones. He is one of the most ardent personal and
political admirers of Gov. Hill, from whose incisive, bold
and outspoken utterances he derives inspiration, and with
undaunted courage and firmness follows him through all the
skirmishes and contests of political warfare.

Mr. Danforth is one of the directors and also the at-
torney of the First National bank of Bainbridge, and a
member of the board of education in that village, where he
now resides. He is not only one of the most popular state
officers at Albany — urbane, genial and sunny — but he is
one of our politicians, too few in number, whose love of lit-
erature, science and the fine arts is a predominant trait of
character. Among the perplexing and pressing duties of
public life he has found time occasionally to deliver a num-
ber of lectures on literary, scientific and legal subjects be-
fore various societies and organizations in different parts of
the country. And in these efforts he has displayed the fine

Elliot Danforth.

taste and finished composition of the man of letters, and
the love of all that is beautiful and sublime in nature, science
and art.

Among the popular addresses which he has delivered with
gracefulness and effectiveness, before select and appreciative
audiences, are those on “ Orators and Oratory,” Self Made
Men,” “Young Men in Politics,” and “ From Quebec to the
Golden Gate.” His patriotic fervor has also been poured
forth in Decoration Day addresses, and Fourth of July ora-
tions.

The veterans of the Union army have no warmer, truer
friend than Mr. Danforth in the whole country. When the
rebellion broke out he was a boy of eleven, but if he had
been old enough, he would in all probability have been
among those who rallied around the dear old flag and
marched to the front in defense of the Union. As it is, he
has shown every mark of respect and admiration both for
the living and the fallen brave in the glorious army of free-
men. On many occasions, both public and private, his feel-
ings and sentiments have been fully expressed regarding the
Union veterans and the sacred cause for which they fought
and bled on many a hotly contested battlefield. We select
one of these occasions as illustrative of the patriotic zeal of
Mr. Danforth. At the thirteenth reunion of the One Hun-
dred and Fourteenth regiment, in the village of Bainbridge,
he gave expression to his feelings in what has been regarded
as one of the most fervid, patriotic and eloquent of his
speeches. In that address, which we regret we can not re-
print here in full he said :

“Soldiers of the One Hundred and Fourteenth: You re-
member the time when you were with glorious Phil Sheri-
dan in the valley. You recall Bisland, Port Hudson, Win-

Noted Living Albanians.

Chester and Cedar Creek. None of you will ever forget
that memorable 14th of June, 1863, when Tucker and Cor-
bin fell, and your gallant colonel in command of Weitzel’s
daring old brigade, fell at its head mortally wounded, lead-
ing in the charge. No braver, truer patriot ever lived than
Col. Elisha B. Smith. His mantle fell on worthy shoulders,
and Col. PerLee has been spared to be with us to-day.

“We see around us to-day, on every hand, emblems of
mourning. The world is racked with grief because of the
death of our great chieftain. His memory is enshrined in
every heart. His career is without a parallel in the history
of the world’s great men. A brave and successful soldier,
he was also a generous adversary. With the same heroism
with which he mel the enemy in the field, he also met the
dire enemy of an insidious disease, and for many weary
weeks and months, looked into the face of the angel of
death who was slowly but surely approaching as if even he
were reluctant to lay his icy hand on the brave, great heart
which is now at peace.

“ Every man who wore the nation’s blue, who patiently
marched under the midday sun, and paced at midnight the
lonely sentinel’s beat ; who stood unblanched in the waves
of battle, and bore the flag in the fiery rain of shot and
shell ; every soldier in the ranks, is found upon the muster
roll of the nation’s heroes and upon the tablet of the na-
tion’s affection.

“ Soldiers of the Grand Army, it is your proud distinction
to have fought in the war for the Union. The badge you
wear is more honorable by far than the gaudy emblems of
chivalry. Your country honors those brave heroes that lie
beneath the sod, but in honoring them she would not for-
get those who survive. You have gone unmoved through

Elliot Danforth.

storms of fire, but in your faces I read the deep emotion
which agitates you to-day.

“ It is the proud boast of Bainbridge that her sons were
loyal to the old flag in the dark days of our country’s his-
tory. In behalf of the people of this town, I extend to you
a cordial, hearty, heartfelt welcome. Welcome, thrice wel-
come to our hearts and homes.”

Mr. Danforth takes great pleasure in gathering around
him standard books, illustrative of general history, biogra-
phy and literature, as well as in the collection of rare and
valuable autographs and manuscripts. He is the owner of
one of the original drafts of the Declaration of Independ-
ence, in the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson. It was re-
cently discovered in a garret, down south, and is a priceless
treasure. He is also one of the few fortunate collectors
who has succeeded in acquiring a complete set of autograph*
letters and documents of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence. And now, at the age of thirty-nine, with a
mind already richly stored with the treasures of learning,
especially in his own chosen profession, he has still a brilliant
future before him in the higher walks of a useful, refined
and cultivated life.

On the 1st of October, 1889, Mr. Danforth was unani-
mously nominated, by the democratic state convention, at
Syracuse, for state treasurer, and was elected by the large
plurality of nearly 15,000 over Gen. Ira M. Hedges.

MELVIL DEWEY.

Among the noted librarians of our country who have
shown great efficiency, untiring devotion and unusual
progressiveness in their calling, stands in the front rank
Melvil Dewey, director of the state library and secretary of
the University of the State of New York. Born December
lo, 1851, in the rural village of Adams Center, Jefferson
county. New York, he is the youngest son of Joel and Eliza
Green Dewey. His love of books — a love which has never
forsaken him — began as soon as he was able to read. His
greatest delight was to be among books, arranging and
classifying them to suit his juvenile ideas. He loved also
to call them his own. Like Dr. Isaac Watts when a child,
he would say when money was given to him : “A book, a
book; buy a book.” When, in 1864, the present edition of
Webster’s unabridged dictionary came out, this incipient
librarian went ten miles to the book store in Watertown,
and brought home the coveted volume for which he paid
$12 of his own childish savings, the largest coin of which
was a five-cent piece.

In 1865, when the collegiate institute was opened at
Adams, three miles away, our boy was, of course, there as a
pupil on the day of opening, and in 1867 he Avas one of the
last students to leave its burning building. In 1868, in
his 17th year, he began his work in education by teaching a
district school in the town of Rodman. In the spring of
’69 he followed the old principal of the Adams institute to

Melvil Dewey.

Oneida (N. Y.) seminary, and gained first place for scholar-
ship. In the winter of ’69 the village school at Bernhard’s
Bay, Oswego county, engaged the vice-principal of the
Oneida seminary for its teacher, but, having a call to one of
the leading academies he urged the trustees to give his place
to his best pupil, Mr. Dewey, who took it and taught and
managed the school with marked success. At its close he
spent one term in the preparatory department of Alfred
University in Allegany county, N. Y. Obviously his fit for
college had been fragmentary and was one to two years less
than full requirements, but with characteristic zeal he chose
Amherst from the leading colleges of the country, as the
one promising him the best education, and without knowing
a single teacher, student or graduate, entered the class of
1874, with heavy conditions in Latin, Greek and mathe-
matics. He not only worked off his conditions, but gained
in each subject a place in the advanced division, and won
prizes on competitive examinations.

From childhood he had announced his purpose of giving
his life to the cause of education. His study convinced him
that the school and college were alone unable to do the
needed work in popular education, and that in the future
the library was to be recognized as the essential comple-
ment of the school, and as the real university for the people,
most of whom could never attend any other. Thousands
of able men and women were devoting themselves to the
school side of education, but the new library side was not
yet fully recognized.

At the beginning of junior year he, therefore, began giv-
ing fully half his time to studying library methods. His
innate skill in such matters was soon discovered by the fac-
ulty and trustees, who were not slow to utilize it. During

Noted Living Albanians.

the rest of his course, and as long as he could be induced to
remain in this narrower field, he was in full charge of the Am-
herst college library, which won an enviable reputation for
its new methods, as he laid the foundation of his now ex-
alted reputation as a broad-minded, progressive and skillful
librarian. He there saw^ the great need of radical changes
in library management. He deplored the general neglect
of the college library, which was altogether too much over-
looked as a factor in college education, being often attached
to the chair of some “ overworked professor, or put in the
charge of the janitor and opened four or five hours per
week in term time only.” He was studying all this time
how to remedy these defects and make such libraries more
generally useful and popular. In this study he visited and
inspected scores of other libraries, and found the same con-
ditions as at Amherst, Avith the same crying need for im-
provement. Impressed with the importance of the great
work of which he was destined to be an apostle, he finally
gave up all other plans and decided to devote his life to
this new profession, though it Avas then unheard of for a
college student to announce librarianship as his chosen pro-
fession.

He found, scattered here and there, earnest and able li-
brarians, but, Avith rare exceptions, each Avorking Avithout
utilizing, and generally without knowing, Avhat his fellows
were doing. To attain any thing like the high ideal he had
set, he recognized the necessity of putting in motion various
agencies Avhich should combine all these scattered efforts
into a single epoch marking movement. These needed
agencies were : —

I. An association of the most earnest American libra-
rians, to promote esprit de corps^ and organized effort.

Melvil Dewey.

2. A monthly library journal devoted, not to the literary,
but to the practical side, as a means of constant communi-
cation.

3. A library bureau, where could be focalized the library
interests of the country, and where could be done much
needed work impracticable for the society or the journal,
such as equipping new libraries with the best modern methods
and appliances for doing the highest grade of library work
most economically and satisfactorily.

4. A library school for training the most promising candi-
dates, both men and women, as librarians of the modern type.

5. State recognition and encouragement, similar to that
extended so recently in the history of the race to the school
system.

So great results could be achieved only through the de-
votion and sacrifice of some earnest soul willing to work in-
tensely and wait patiently for step after step to be taken,
without losing faith in ultimate success.

Boston and its vicinity were conceded to be the best
center on the continent in which to undertake such a work,
while it was utterly impracticable in the country village of
Amherst. In 1876, therefore, declining the urgent and flat-
tering invitations of the trustees of Amherst college to re-
main as their librarian, Mr. Dewey moved to Boston, and
devoted himself with all the enthusiasm of a genuine stu-
dent and originator to popular education through broaden-
ing, simplifying and systemizing library work. The task he
had undertaken was diflicult. His idea was to strike out
from the old, beaten paths regarding libraries and their man-
agement, to raise the college library to the rank of a dis-
tinct university department, and to make of the free public,
library a people’s college.

Noted Living Albanians.

In a recent address, in noticing the change already
brought about, he truly says : ‘‘ The old library was passive,
asleep, a reservoir or cistern getting in but not giving out ;
an arsenal in time of peace ; the librarian a sentinel before
the doors, a jailer to guard against the escape of the unfor-
tunates under his care. The new library is active ; an ag-
gressive, educating force in the community ; a living foun-
tain of good influences; an army in the field, with all guns
limbered; and the librarian occupies a field of active useful-
ness second to none.”

From the first, Mr. Dewey took a broad view of the
whole library subject, and brought all his energy and in-
tellectual resources to bear on the accomplishment of his
thoroughly digested plans and high aims. By personal visits,
urgent correspondence and contagious enthusiasm, he suc-
ceeded in interesting the leading librarians of the country
in his plans, so that within six months after going to Boston
three of the five agencies were well started. The American
library association, of which he has from the first been the
secretary in charge of its offices, property and work, now
includes several hundred of the best library workers of the
Union. The Library Journal, of which he was managing
editor till i88i, when pressure of other duties compelled
him to resign active work to his former associates, appeared
during the week of the first meeting of the association and
has gone on till now. Fourteen volumes of this pre-emi-
nently practical monthly, each minutely indexed, have been
completed, and are an unequalled mine of valuable and inter-
esting matter for librarians.

The work of the library bureau, which has steadily grown
during these fifteen years, was also begun at once in the same
office where Mr. Dewey, as secretary, manager and editor.

Melvil Dewey.

did literally the work of three men without receiving the
salary of one ; for there was no endowment from which to
pay for this much needed missionary educational work, and
neither the Jouma^ 'aor the library bureau was a money-
making institution, but it was counted a good vear that
showed no direct loss.

As the new education was to come through reading, it
must fail if the masses were unable to read, and in face of
the growing illiteracy even in Massachusetts, a score of the
best-known, thoughtful educators, recognizing the two great
obstacles to universal primary education, after investigation
and estimates, signed a statement drawn up by Mr. Dewey,
expressing the belief that a full year of the school life of
every child might be saved by complete adoption of the in-
ternational decimal or metric system of weights and meas-
ures in place of compound numbers, and that two or three
years could be saved if the absurdities of English spelling
were eliminated. The full work of the library could only
be done by stemming this tide of illiteracy, and so Mr.
Dewey again took the laboring oar in founding, in 1876, two
more national educational societies, the American Metric
bureau and the Spelling Reform association, each devoted
to removing a great obstacle to general education.

For fifteen years he has continued to be secretary of all
three associations. Besides editing, from time to time, depart-
ments devoted to some phase of his work, he has started
and edited the Metric Bulletin^ changed later to Metric Ad-
vocate, and the Spelling Reform Bulletin, changed later to
the quarterly magazine Spelling, in addition to the monthly
Library Journal and the quarterly Library Notes, a maga-
zine of librarianship started in 1886, to help the large class
of libraries not reached by the more costly journal.

Noted Living Albanians.

The success of the American library association in its
first year was so evident, that the principal English libra-
rians were anxious to follow its lead, and Mr. Dewey con-
sented to go to London for the organization of a library
association of the united kingdom, undertaking to take with
him two or three leading American librarians. He suc-
ceeded in raising a delegation of twenty-two (the largest from
any country, except England) at the international conference
called in London. In evidence of their appreciation this
new association enthusiastically adopted the Library Journal
as its official organ, and eight of the foremost English libra-
rians accepted invitations to serve as his associate editors
without salary.

A cardinal principle with Mr. Dewey is that we must stand
on the shoulders of those who have gone before, and fully
utilize the experiments and experience of others, if we are
to make any substantial progress. He has, therefore, traveled
many thousand miles in this country to visit and study the
workings of American libraries, and as this sketch goes to
press he is again crossing the Atlantic to study the adminis-
tration of the best libraries, museums and universities, and
specially, the important recent educational movements for
extending the work of the old universities among the
people.

His reputation as a most skillful specialist in his profes-
sion having become widely extended, new and enlarged
fields of usefulness were opened to him. In 1883 he became
chief librarian of Columbia college, and in 1887, professor
of library economy, and director of the Columbia College
Library School, which was a creation of his own, and of
which the remarkable and practical success has justified his
most sanguine hopes. Albanians may congratulate them-

Melvil Dewey.

selves that the school was so wholly Mr. Dewey’s in incep-
tion, plan and administration, that the leading librarians of
the country considered it essential to general library inter-
ests that it should continue under his personal direction.
This fact has enabled the regents to secure its transfer to
the state library, where it promises to do ah even greater
and better work than in New York, without involving any
expense to the state.

This school takes selected candidates, after graduation
from the literary colleges, and gives them a two years’
thorough professional training for librarianship. It has
already drawn pupils from all sections of the country from
Maine to California, and at present thirteen states are repre-
sented, though less than twenty pupils are admitted from
about one hundred annual applicants. The school has won
the highest encomiums from leading librarians and the press,
at home and abroad. Each year shows more clearly that it
will be perhaps the most important factor in the modern
library movement, since it is scattering through the country
enthusiastic apostles, each of whom enlists the active inter-
ests and sympathies of new circles.

When Mr. Dewey took charge of the Columbia college
library in 1883, it was practically unknown outside the col-
lege grounds, and equally unknown to many inside who
completed their four years’ course without ever crossing
its threshold. When he left it in 1888, it was opened ten
times as many hours, including all holidays and vacations,
its great hall and smaller reading-rooms were thronged with
readers ; its shelves had received in the six years as many
books and pamphlets as in the preceding one hundred and
thirty since the college was founded ; it had won its place
as an important factor in the literary life of New York, and

Noted Living Albanians.

its reputation had spread wherever libraries were known.
Numerous very complimentary articles and references ap-
peared in European journals, a leading literary weekly of
London, in its editorial columns, speaking of “ the best ad-
ministered library in the world, that of Columbia college
in New York.” The New York Evening Post said in an ap-
preciative full column editorial : “ The institution in its new
and improved form is so recent that not one New Yorker
out of five hundred knows of its existence. Yet visiting
foreigners have expressed the highest admiration for its
methods and conveniences for effective work.”

The leading Canadian literary journal The Week, of
Toronto, in discussing ‘libraries and education” said : “One
of the leading spirits in bringing about modern reforms in
library administration is Melvil Dewey, now secretary of the
university of the state of New York at Albany. Until
1888, Mr. Dewey was librarian at Columbia college. New
York. His predecessor had been the college janitor. When
Mr. Dewey’s five years of service came to an end he left the
library more than doubled in extent, and in arrangement
and management the best in the world. From occupying
several inadequate rooms scattered about the building, ac-
cessible only a few hours in the week, the books now fill the
handsomest hall in New York — a hall perfectly ventilated,
sumptuously furnished, lighted by electricity, and open four-
teen hours a day. Mr. Dewey, whose organizing mind has
in effect created this superb library, is the author of what is
known as the “ decimal classification ” for libraries. -

M. B. Buisson, for some years employed by the French
government as its representative in foreign countries and at
various worlds’ fairs in studying libraries and higher educa-
tion, in his official report on the New Orleans exposition and

Melvil Dewey.

the American visits made in connection with it, gave several
pages to unstinted praise of the work done by Mr. Dewey,
from which space allows only a brief extract : Columbia

college has, above all, a library of the first rank. I have
visited the library of Harvard university ; of Oxford, and
of Cambridge, England, as well as those of several German
universities, but in organization and facilities for work, I do
not believe that the library of Columbia college can be sur-
passed. It seems to me exactly to realize the ideal of a
university library ; not yet in number of volumes, though it
possesses already more than 75,000, but in its equipment
and administration. It has a character of its own which de-
serves to be studied, especially now when the reconstruction
of the Sorbonne necessitates the reorganization of our own
university library.

“ Six distinct collections have been formed into a single li-
brary, provided with all the improvements which the Bod-
leian, the British museum, and the Bibliotheque nationale
could suggest. The new librarian, Mr. Melvil Dewey, elected
in 1883, who planned and carried out this transformation has
accomplished a truly herculean task.”

Mr, Dewey has spent much time during the past sixteen
years in developing improvements in library economy, and
hundreds of libraries are using devices, appliances and
methods copied from other libraries or described in various
books and pamphlets, but which originated in the experi-
ments and studies conducted since 1876 by Mr. Dewey, or
under his inspiration, in the library bureau or library
school.

The phrase often met in library publications of the
“Dewey system ” has no definite meaning, for though he
has been called on in hundreds of cases to plan or revise the

Noted Living Albanians.

systems used, he has no stereotyped form but studies each
problem by itself, to find what seems calculated to do most
good, considering all the special circumstances, and no two
of the many library buildings and systems which he has
helped to plan are exactly alike.

Because of its publication and wide distribution he is
best known for his work on classification, which is often
called the Dewey system, and is adopted in many of the
best managed libraries of both Europe and America. It
was published first as “ Classification and subject index for
cataloging and arranging books and pamphlets of a library’'
(Amherst, 1876). A second edition greatly enlarged appeared
as “ Decimal classification and relativ index” (Boston,
1885), and in 1888, under the same title, a third ; and in 1890,
a fourth edition. He also published ‘‘ Rules for author and
classed catalogs, with fifty-two fac similes of sample cards”
(Boston, 1888), followed by a revised and enlarged edition
as “Library school card catalog rules” (Boston, 1889k

He has also in preparation, and has already printed, de-
tached sections of a series of library handbooks, which will
cover the whole field of library economy, as well as classifi-
cation and cataloguing.

Besides the books appearing under his name, Mr. Dewey
has contributed not a little to other books and pamphlets,
and very largely to periodicals, though much that he has
written has been unsigned. Some idea of his activity is
gained from the fact that we find in the index to articles,
notes and references in the first fourteen volumes of the Li-
brary Journal^ eight hundred and seventy-five entries under
his name. From the first he has declined all invitations to
write, speak or join societies, clubs or other bodies, except
in the direct lines of his chosen work. Those who under-

Melvil Dewey.

stand the relations of its many phases will see that he has
followed strictly the original program laid out in boyhood,
and has steadily denied himself most of the pleasures of
society and literary and social life, because his chosen work
demanded every available hour, and he is as jealous of any
thing that takes from his time or strength as if in training
for a race. He claims that he gets as much rest by chang-
ing from one phase of his work to another as by stopping
all labor and engaging in the usual recreations, and his uni-
form good health and unusual endurance of long hours of
intense work seem to justify his theory.

While he has done much himself, his greater work has
been in stimulating and inspiring others to accept his broader
views, share his faith and take an active part in the needed
work which can be carried on only by the efforts of thousands.
He often says “ my plans involve a hundredfold more work
than I can ever do, but if by the efforts of my life I can
induce one hundred men and women each to do one per
cent of this work, the whole will be accomplished.”

Thus, it was in his office that the New York Library club
was organized with over fifty members for promoting library
interests in New York city and vicinity. All its meetings
were held in his library till he resigned the presidency when
called to Albany. There also was incorporated, and there
met, the Children’s Library association, whose constitution,
drafted by Mr. Dewey, stated its object to be “ to create
and foster among children too young to be admitted to the
public libraries, a taste for wholesome reading. To supply
the children, for use both at home and in free libraries and
reading-rooms, with the books and serials best adapted to
profit them, and to prepare them for the wisest use of the
public libraries.”

Noted Living Albanians.

In the same place were formed the New York branch of
the Spelling Reform association and the New York Lan-
guage club, of which President Barnard and David Dudley
Field were the first presidents, and Mr. Dewey the secretary
and treasurer; the object being to consider practical ques-
tions connected with language, its use and improvement,” and
its members including well-known and scholarly New Yorkers.
Its meetings were largely attended till discontinued because
of the secretary’s removal. President Barnard of Columbia
was also president of the American Metric bureau in Boston,
founded in 1876 by permanent secretary Mr. Dewey, and of
the American Metrological society which met always at
Columbia, and of which Mr. Dewey was also secretary. It
is to the efforts of this society that we are chiefly indebted
for the success of the campaign which did away with the
absurd confusion and annoyances of local time for every
village, and gave us the present system of standard time.
It will be seen that every one of these organizations was di-
rectly advancing the work chosen by Mr. Dewey in his boy-
hood, so none of the energies devoted to them was wasted
or diverted from the main purpose. As their work was con-
fined almost wholly to New York city, Mr. Dewey resigned
all these offices in order to give his entire time to the greater
field open in Albany.

Within six months after his election by the regents, there
was held at St. Louis a national convention which resolved
itself into a permanent association of state librarians. In
spite of Mr. Dewey’s protest that he had led in more than
his share of library enterprises, the association unanimously
elected him president, and already there is abundant evi-
dence that a great and most valuable work is to be accom-
plished by the new body.

Melvil Dewey.

He has also delivered many addresses — all extempora-
neous, for he is too busy to write — before schools, colleges
and educational meetings. His address in 1886, before the
Association of Collegiate Alumnm on “ Librarianship as a
profession for college-bred women,” was widely circulated
by the association as a document of peculiar value to all
interested in woman’s higher intellectual work. On July i,
1888, he spoke before the university convocation of the
state of New York on “ Libraries as related to the educa-
tional work of the state.” The convocation itself unani-
mously indorsed and asked the regents to adopt the radical
views then advanced. The regents in turn gave hearty sup-
port and asked needed legislation, and the new university
law of June 15, 1889, provides for carrying out his plans.

The death of the state librarian. Dr. H. A. Homes, and
the resignation of the secretary and treasurer of the uni-
versity, Dr. David Murray, made it necessary for the re-
gents to fill these important offices. After much discussion
it was determined to enter on a greatly enlarged work for
which the time seemed ripe, if the right man could be found
to undertake it. Extended inquiries led the regents to
think one man specially fitted by his peculiar training and
experience for the new work, and the three offices of secre-
tary and treasurer of the university and director of the state
library were combined into a single position, to which, on
December 12, 1888, Prof. Dewey was unanimously elected.
Many who knew him only through his reputation as a libra-
rian hastily inferred that he was an eminent bookworm,
while in fact he has always disclaimed all credit as a bookish
librarian. He is primarily an educator, and became a libra-
rian solely because that side of the educational field seemed
most fruitful. Museums, he claims, to be but another form

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of libraries, in which one reads from the book of nature in-
stead of from print, and his plans include museums as essen-
tial parts of well-equipped libraries. When, therefore, the
only state in the Union having a department devoted wholly
to higher education, and at the same time in full charge of
the state library and state museum, offered its unrivaled fa-
cilities, and almost boundless possibilities of development,
the man who had given his life to exactly this work had no
choice but to accept what was clearly the ideal position
from which to carry forward the good work already
begun.

At the university convocation of 1889, Mr. Dewey deliv-
ered an admirable address on “The extension of the Uni-
versity,” outlining his plans for making more widely useful
the organization which is hereafter to do so much more
than its excellent work in the past.

In personal appearance Professor, or as he much prefers
to be called. Secretary Dewey, is above the ordinary size,
standing over six feet and weighing nearly two hundred
pounds. He has an active, nervous temperament, which
finds real pleasure in work and unhappiness in idleness.
With his varied and onerous duties, not only as director of
the state library, but also as secretary of the university
with all the colleges and academies of the empire state, his
hands are full of labor. Always on the alert, his mind is
deeply occupied in his professional pursuits. He is rapid
in movements, rapid in speech and rapid in dispatch of
business. He is supremely devoted to his calling, and
with a generous hand has expended all his earnings in
the study and advancement of his favorite work, and in
aiding and encouraging others of similar tastes to follow
in his steps.

Melvil Dewey. 97

July II, 1890, on call from Secretary Dewey, forty-
three librarians and educators met in the State Li-
brary and organized the New York Library association
“ for promoting the library interests of the state of New
York.” The wisdom of this step was shown by its recep-
tion. Within two months Iowa and New Hampshire had
organized similar associations, and leaders in five other
states had decided to do so without delay.

As the last proof of this sketch passes the author, Sep-
tember 15, 1890, the press reports the close, in the White
Mountains, of the largest and most successful conference of
librarians ever held. On Thursday the New York Library
association elected Melvil Dewey President. On Friday the
association of State Law Librarians made the same choice,
followed next day by the national body, thus curiously com-
bining in one man the presidency of all three associations.
We close our sketch by quoting from Boston Transcript' s
account of “ The Librarians’ Congress : ” Mr. Melvil
Dewey par excellence best-informed man in the United
States in the science of library progress. He brings to its
discussion a wide knowledge of its every detail, born of
many years’ experience. The enthusiasm and vigor which
he throws into every word that drops from his lips is refresh-
ing and strengthening to others. He sets the pace, so to
speak, which, if followed, is sure to lead on to victory and
success. Obstacles seem to him to be a pleasure, that he
may study them and wipe them away. He is an ever-
loaded magazine of thought and suggestion. It only needs
the opportunity to ignite the flame, resulting in the explo-
sion of a volume of common-sense ideas, which always seem
to fall on fertile ground, soon to bear their good fruit.”

ANDREW SLOAN DRAPER.

ONE of the foremost men in the promotion of the cause
of education in our country to day, is the Hon. Andrew
S. Draper, the present Superintendent of Public Instruction
of the state of New York. His career is especially note-
worthy and interesting as affording encouragement and in-
spiration to the youth of our land, who are seeking higher
educational advantages.

Born at Westford, Otsego county, N. Y., on the 2ist of
June, 1848, the first seven years of his life were passed under
watchful parental care, at his native place. The first school
he attended was in the primitive cross-roads red school-
house. In 1855 his parents removed to Albany, soon after
which he was sent to the district schools of this city — a
city which was to become his permanent residence. Win-
ning a prize scholarship m the Albany Academy, when
about fifteen years old, he became a pupil in that institution,
from which after a thorough course of instruction he gradu-
ated in the summer of 1866. From his youth up he was of
studious habits and active life. After graduation at the
academy he taught in that institution and others for four
years, during which time he also read law, and in the fall of
1870 he entered the Albany law school, from which excel-
lent institution he was graduated in the summer of 1871,

Andrew S. Draper.

being admitted to practice at the general term of the
supreme court in May of that year. It will be interesting
to remark here, as indicating his early tastes and talents for
public speaking, that in the presidential campaign of Grant
and Seymour in 1868, Mr. Draper delivered over fifty polit-
ical addresses in different parts of the state, before he had
reached the age of twenty-one and he has spoken in every
campaign since that time.

He lost no time, however, in engaging in the active duties
of his profession, becoming a member of the law firm of
Paddock, Draper & Chester. This firm existed till 1886
when, upon the death of Judge Paddock, it was succeeded by
that of Draper & Chester, which, since Mr. Draper’s elec-
tion to his present position, has also been dissolved, Mr.
Alden Chester carrying on the law business alone. In the
meantime Mr. Draper had been a member of the board of
education of Albany, in which he seems to have familiarized
himself with matters to which he has since devoted his best
intellectual powers, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the
educational system and the best methods of presenting it to
the public.

But another field into which he was now about to enter,
temporarily, and to achieve no inconsiderable success, was
that of politics, a careful and comprehensive survey of which
he had previously taken. He became early noted as an ar-
dent and active young republican, highly popular with his
party, and in the fall of 1881 he received the nomination for
member of assembly from the second Albany district, and
after quite a spirited canvass was elected by a plurality of
about 500 over Daniel Casey, democrat, and Charles R-
Knowles, independent republican.

Few new members of the legislature ever rose so rapidly

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into prominence as leading debaters during their first term
as did Mr. Draper. He served on the committee of ways
and means, judiciary, public education, and public printing,
and at once participated in the debates with great confi-
dence and boldness. His previous legal training, his readi-
ness in debate, his natural gifts in repartee and his tenacity
of purpose were of eminent service to him in legislative dis-
cussions. Perhaps his most earnest and stirring addresses in
the legislature during the memorable session of 1881-2 were
in favor of the return of the United States senators, Roscoe
Conkling and Thomas C. Platt, but in this he was finally
defeated through the election of Messrs. Miller and Lap-
ham. Seldom, if ever, has any member of a legislative
body stood more steadfastly by personal or political
friends than did Andrew S. Draper in advocacy of the re-
election of Messrs. Conkling and Platt to seats which they
had, in the excitement of political passion, perhaps too
hastily and unwisely resigned. It was the writer’s privilege
to listen almost daily to those lively and often heated de-
bates in the legislature, and well does he remember with
what vigor, impressiveness and persistency Mr. Draper
hurled his remarks against opposing forces. But it was in
vain for any member to stem the popular tide which had
set in so strongly against the return of the distinguished ex-
senators, and so Mr. Draper gracefully yielded to the course
of events and the choice of the majority.

In 1880, ’81, ’82, Mr. Draper was chairman of the republi-
can county committee of Albany county, and in 1883
1884 he was a member of the republican state committee,
serving also as chairman of the executive committee in the
presidential campaign of 1884. this campaign he con-

ducted the entire correspondence of the state committee.

Andrew S. Draper.

lOI

and had charge of all the arrangements for and accompa-
nied Mr. Blaine in his two memorable trips through the state.

In the same year returning, perhaps, to more congenial
and fruitful fields of labor, he was appointed a member of
the executive committee of the Albany State Normal SchooJ ;
in December of the same year he was selected by President
Arthur a judge of the court of Alabama claims, his associ-
ates being the Hon. James Harlan, for many years United
States senator from Iowa, and the Hon. Asa French, of
Massachusetts. In this office Judge Draper accomplished
a large amount of judicial work in the interest of the gov-
ernment, over two thousand cases being tried before that
tribunal during his year of judicial service. His reputation
as a scholar and his efficiency as a judge were thus largely
increased by his successful discharge of those judicial duties,
and he was not long in being called to another department,
to which he was admirably adapted by special training and
general accomplishments. His whole heart had for a long
time been enlisted in the system of popular education, and
it was putting the right man in the right place when on the
loth of March, 1886, the legislature in joint session elected
him Superintendent of Public Instruction of the state of
New York. It was indeed a most judicious choice. Judge
Draper was now in his true element, and his executive
ability, quick perception and sound judgment were brought
into full exercise. And he immediately set himself to work
in improving, elevating and perfecting the educational
system of the state. His task has been by no means an
easy one. He has devoted his whole time and ripest men-
tal powers to the personal supervison of his chosen work,
and with watchful care has visited nearly every county in
the state, delivering earnest practical addresses, at state

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conventions, teachers’ institutes, associations, normal and
high schools. These addresses, characterized by forcible
utterance, propriety of language and directness of purpose,
containing many valuable suggestions, have been listened
t^ with absorbing interest by his hearers. Among the most
important of his school addresses which have been published
and which are worthy of careful consideration are those de-
livered to the state teachers’ association at Elizabethtown,
N. Y., in July 1886, on ‘^Our school law;” before the
teachers of the city of New York, on ‘‘What ought the
common schools to do ; how can it be done?” before the
association of school commissioners, at Binghamton, in
January, 1887, on the “Law relating to school commission-
ers and how to improve the country schools,” before the
department of superintendence of the national association,
at Washington, in February, 1887, on “The qualifications
of teachers, how' shall they be determined? ” and before the
New York state teachers’ association, in July, 1888, on
“ The powers and obligations of teachers ; ” before the state
teachers’ association in Brooklyn in July, 1889, on “School
administration in large cities;” before the national educa-
tional association at Nashville, Tenn., in July, 1889, on
“ The legal status of the public schools ; ” before the
presbytery of Buffalo in September, 1889, “The Indian
problem of the state of New York;” before the State
Teachers’ Association at Saratoga in July, 1890, on “ The
Origin and Development of the New York Common-School
System,” and before the State School Masters’ Club of
Illinois, at Peoria, in October, 1890, on “ The Authority of
the State over the Education of her Children.”

His annual reports to the legislature are prepared with
great care and research, and contain a wide range of

Andrew S. Draper.

103

thought, with eminently suggestive propositions, which
have received most favorable comment and been generally
adopted as legislative measures. As an indication of what
has been accomplished upon his suggestion, in a single year
we may mention as having been moulded into laws by the
legislature of 1887 :

Authorizing school commissioners to condemn unfit
school-houses without the concurrence of the supervisor ;
apportioning school moneys upon the aggregate instead of
the average attendance ; providing for the filing of collect-
ors’ bonds ; providing a system whereby the state secures
absolutely the full quota of state scholarships at Cornell
university, by filling vacancies which may occur in one
county by appointment from another ; requiring teachers’
wages to be paid at least as often as at the end of each
month, and requiring trustees to deliver to teachers a writ-
ten memorandum of contracts made ; providing for the free
distribution of the revised code of public instruction among
all the school districts of the state ; providing for the free
distribution of the annual reports of the department among
all the school districts of the state ; providing for the prep-
aration and publication of architects’ plans for school build-
ings ; requiring every school district in the state to pro-
vide suitable outbuildings, in default of which public
moneys may be withheld ; establishing a plan for the
uniform examination of teachers for commissioners’ cer-
tificates.

The legislatures of 1888, 1889 and 1890 also passed many
important measures upon the recommendation of the Super-
intendent. Among these may be named the following : An
act authorizing him to grant teachers’ certificates without
examination to graduates of colleges and universities who

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had taught three years successfully and also to indorse di-
plomas granted by normal schools in other states, so as to
make them good in this state ; an act providing for improve-
ments in school furniture; an act prohibiting trustees from
issuing money orders for teachers’ wages unless the money
was on hand to meet the order ; an act establishing “ Arbor
day;” an act transferring the supervision of teachers’ train-
ing classes from the regents to the department of public in-
struction ; an act extending the minimum school year from
twenty-eight to thirty-two weeks ; an act providing that no
trustee shall employ a teacher for a less term than sixteen
weeks or discharge one in the middle of a term except for a
cause which is approved by the superintendent ; an act au-
thorizing districts to levy taxes for teachers’ wages in
advance; and a most important act compelling attendance
upon school in cases where necessary. In fact every recom-
mendation made by him to the legislature has received
prompt and favorable attention.

Judge Draper is one of those progressive educators who
do not like to stand still or move but slowly onward in the
old beaten paths of our fathers in furnishing the means of
education to the masses ; but whenever any improvement
has seemed desirable in the way of reorganization or more
efficient methods in conducting public instruction, he has
always been foremost in advocating and pressing such
measures to a successful issue. It is his desire to keep
abreast with the spirit of the age, which seems to demand
a more perfect system in the education of the youth of
our land. His decisions in appeal cases have been uniformly
judicious, clear and firmly expressed, with apparent fairness
to all parties concerned. In his last annual report to the
legislature (Jan. lo, 1889), Judge Draper, in a most compre-

Andrew S. Draper.

105

hensive and elaborate review of the activity and progress in
educational work, remarks :

“ It may properly be said that the year has been one of
marked educational activity. The department has had its
hands more than full, while superintendents in the cities,
commissioners in the country, and the great body of trus-
tees and teachers everywhere, have been industriously at
work. It is more than doubtful if any other year in the
history of the state has witnessed so much of interest, so
much of effort, and, it may be added, so much of accom-
plishment, on the part of all grades and classes of educa-
tional workers, as the one which has just closed.” * ^ *

“ More study is being given to the history and the phil-
osophy of education than ever before. It must be confessed
that we have been slow to look upon the work of the schools
from a scientific standpoint, or to believe that it should be
intrusted only to hands which are professionally trained and
equipped for its scientific prosecution. But Americans are
proverbial for treating a subject vigorously and energetically
after once seizing upon it. The idea that a teacher must
not only have fair technical scholarship, but that he must
know something of the world’s efforts at educational pro-
gress, something of the developing processes of the human
intellect, must understand how to arouse, direct and sustain
mental activity and so promote the healthful growth of the
mind that it will digest and assimilate knowledge, seek
more knowledge and gather strength for self-action, and
that these requirements are no less essential in the primary
than the advanced schools, is gaining strong foothold and
making rapid headway throughout the state.”

In the same report he makes suggestions which must ul-
timately be regarded in a most favorable light by the legis-

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Noted Living Albanians.

lature and the people of the state regarding the encourage-
ment and proper maintenance of school or public libraries,
and the plan of changing them from district to township
libraries, “ thereby providing for a larger library which
should be centrally located, or perhaps moved about the
town, remaining a few months in each school district.”

His habits of mind and his method of treating public af-
fairs are well indicated in the following paragraphs with which
he closes his recent (1890) annual report to the legislature:

“ The mere presentation of figures which show a con-
tinually-increasing population, increasing number of schocfls,
increasing attendance, and rapidly-increasing expenditures
for school purposes, fails to satisfy any thoughtful mind
of the real work of the schools. The character of the work
being performed and the spirit and disposition of the workers
are to be considered. The numerical growth and develop-
ment of the schools is by no means to be accepted as the
measure of the state’s educational progress. Rather, we
must inquire what is being done, how it is being done, with
what end in view, and how much, how intelligently and
profitably is effort and money being expended to accomplish
that end.”

“ There is certainly no justification for entire self-compla-
cency and satisfaction on the part of those who are charged
with the business management and the professional super-
vision of the public schools. There never will be. Perfec-
tion will never be attained. The desired end will never be
fully accomplished. Our public school system is yet in a
crude state. The legislation which shapes and controls it,
the management which directs it, the teaching-service which
determines its tone and character will necessarily be greatly
improved and strengthened in the coming years. The

Andrew S. Draper.

107

common sentiment of the people will gradually come to ap-
preciate, authorize and direct the things necessary to be
done in order that the capital of money and brains invested
in the schools shall be most profitably employed.”

“ Yet, if we compare the work of the last year and the in-
telligence and spirit which has characterized it with that of
preceding years ; if we compare the public school work of
New York, its progress and its prospects, with the public
school work of states all about us, it is not difficult to find
abundant occasion for congratulation and encouragement.”

On the whole, the results of Judge Draper’s labors as
superintendent of public instruction have been highly ap-
proved by the most competent and successful educators,
from college presidents down to common school teachers.
The work in his department at the capitol moves on with
the greatest regularity and completeness, where he is ably
assisted by his deputy, Hon. Charles R. Skinner, and others.
The large, varied, and daily increasing correspondence is
promptly attended to, and no one has just reason to com-
plain of neglect, amidst all the manifold duties performed in
the office.

The versatility of Judge Draper’s genius is worthy of note
here. He has proved himself capable as a lawyer, a legis-
lator, and an educator, in the last of which he has, perhaps,
^won his brightest laurels ; for it is doubtful whether the
state ever had a more accomplished and efficient Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction.

Rather retiring in his manners, without the least outward
show, courteous in his treatment of all persons having busi-
ness relations with the department. Judge Draper, at the
same time, seems to be^ engrossed in the responsible and
onerous duties of his special public service.

JAMES W. EATON.

A TRULY representative Albanian who has contributed
largely to the architectural adornments of the city of
his adoption, and whose name will always be favorably as-
sociated in the construction of the new capitol, is James
W. Eaton. His life is specially interesting and instructive
as presenting the more solid characteristics which are essential
in the formation of a type of true manhood — a type which
will ever be a blessing to any community. He was born at
Somerville, N. J., not far from the city of New Brunswick,
on the 22d of August, 1817. His ancestors were among the
Puritans of the old Massachusetts Bay colony, who in
1629, with five shiploads of colonists under their leader,
John Endicott, landed at Salem and Charlestown, just nine
years after the settlement at Plymouth. Here, breathing
the purer air of liberty in civil and ecclesiastical matters
than they enjoyed in the old world, actuated by a spirit of
piety, and filled with noble impulses, they engaged manfully
in the trials and struggles incident to pioneer life in a new
wilderness land.

The father of the subject of this memoir was Josiah
Eaton, a native of Keene, N. H., who after living several
years in the old granite state removed to New Jersey and
took up his residence in the town of Somerville. The

James W. Eaton.

109

mother of James W. Eaton was Gertrude MacEll, born
in New Jersey, and of Scottish-German origin. Both
parents were persons of high character and were faithful
followers of the apostolic advice — “diligent in business,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” They were not, how-
ever, fully satisfied with their New Jersey home, and with a
view of enlarging their sphere of activity and providing bet-
ter for their family they gathered up their little household
effects in the year 1828, and slowly sailed up the Hudson,
landing on the shores of the old Dutch city of Albany. As
he looked upon the ancient structures of the city old Josiah
Eaton, who was a stone mason by trade, thought he would
soon find plenty of work to do in replacing crumbling foun-
dations or in laying new ones. And so he told his wife
they would make Albany their permanent residence. In
this decision he acted wisely. When the family reached
here their son James W. was but eleven years of age, but he
was not brought up to eat the bread of idleness. He soon
commenced to learn the occupation of his father. The
pecuniary means of the Eatons were at that period quite
limited, but by hard work and strict economy they managed
to make a comfortable living.

For several years young Eaton worked at his trade in the
summer, and atttended the old Lancaster school during the
winter, besides enjoying a brief period of instruction at a
private school. He was as diligent in his studies as he- was
faithful and industrious in his trade, and succeeded in ac-
quiring a good practical education in the ordinary branches,
which was to be of the greatest advantage to him in carrying
forward the more important works of his business life.

Mr. Eaton worked steadily at his trade until he reached
the age of twenty-three, and had saved a little money from

Noted Living Albanians.

his hard earnings, when he settled down in life as a young
married man. In 1840 he was happily united in marriage
to Miss Eliza M. Benner, who after a companionship of fifty
years still lives to be “ a crown of glory ” to her husband.

Of their two surviving children, Calvin Ward Eaton was
formerly a member of the firm of VanSantford & Eaton, lum-
ber dealers, while James Webster Eaton, Jr., a graduate of the
Albany Boy’s academy and of Yale college, is the senior part-
ner of the well-known law firm of Eaton & Kirchwey, whose
offices are established in the Tweddle building, Albany.

Not long after his marriage Mr. Eaton embarked in the
contracting and building business, which he followed with
success. In this he found a congenial and profitable occu-
pation, in which he has continued to devote his best ener-
gies. When he commenced his building operations he was
thoroughly prepared for his work by years of previous ex-
perience and study in masonry and architecture. He
went to work with a strong will and a determination to
succeed. His reputation as a builder rapidly increased, and
to-day over five hundred buildings, both public and private,
are standing monuments of his enterprise, energy and
mechanical skill. In the line of beautifying the city by
handsome structures he set an example which has been care-
fully imitated by the younger architects. He had already
achieved a high reputation as a first-class builder, when a
new field of labor was offered to him. In 1874, the com-
missioners of the new capitol, consisting of Hamilton Harris,
William C. Kingsley, William A. Rice, Chauncey M. Depew,
Delos DeWolf and Edward A. Merritt, nominated and ap-
pointed him superintendent of construction of the new capi-
tol “ subject to the consent and approval of the governor.”
And on the ist of June of the same year Governor John

James W. Eaton.

Ill

A. Dix gave “ such consent and approval.” Mr. Eaton held
this office through the administrations of Governors Dix,
Tilden, Robinson and Cornell until the position itself was
abolished in 1883. His superintendency gave great and
general satisfaction to all parties, and it may moreover be
asserted that in the midst of political changes in the execu-
tive department of the state he performed his services in a
manner which reflected the highest credit upon his character
as an upright, honest and faithful public servant.

Retiring thus honorably from his efficient superinten-
dency of the new capitol building, Mr. Eaton found time to
devote himself to the improvement of his own real estate
matters, and to the erection of various private residences.
He has managed his own affairs with discretion, and en-
hanced the value of public property. And now, having at-
tained the height of his worldly ambition, he is passing a
serene age in the bosom of his family and among his friends,
enjoying the fruits of a life devoted to the development and
prosperity of the city of his early adoption.

Mr. Eaton early united with the church, and is at present
a leading member of the First Methodist Episcopal church
oEAlbany.

In politics he is a republican, having cast his first presiden-
tial vote in 1840 for General William Henry Harrison, and
his last, in 1888, for his grandson General Benjamin Harrison.

Of a naturally vigorous constitution, with a kindly dispo-
sition, modest and retiring in his manners, Mr. Eaton be-
longs to that class of the older school of gentlemen — sons
of daring pioneers, whose ranks are greatly thinned year by
year by the hand of death, but whose works and labors of
love will long remain as an inspiration to struggling, earn-
est, rising young men.

DUDLEY FARLIN.

^ I ^HE RECORDS of American biography furnish numer-
^ ous instances of persons rising to high and honorable
stations in life, commanding the respect and admiration of
the public and performing many noble deeds in the interests
of humanity. Among the causes which operate to produce
this grand result are natural talents, constant industry, strict
economy, high moral principle, with t‘he many golden op-
portunities afforded by our free institutions for the encour-
agement and development of material and intellectual great-
ness. Albany has its fair share of representative men of this
class ; and among the list we have one who is now a resident
of this city — a public-spirited man, actively engaged in some
of its large business concerns — Dudley Farlin, general
freight agent of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company’s
railroad, president of the Young Men’s association, etc.

He was born on the 20th of December, 1835, in the town
of Warrensburgh, Warren county, N. Y. In that rural,
healthful, romantic region he passed his earliest days under
the watchful care of affectionate parents. He is a son of
Myron B. Farlin and Harriet W. Farlin, both of whom have
passed away.

His father was for several years engaged in the lumber
business at Warrensburgh, wFere he was highly respected

/7^ryzi:

Dudley Farlin.

113

by all who knew him for his many excellent traits of char-
acter. H is grandfather, Dudley Farlin, one of the first set-
tlers of Warrensburgh, was well-known in social and political
circles. He was sheriff of Warren county in 1821 and in
1828; was member of the assembly in 1824-5 ; a democratic
elector at large in 1832 — when General Jackson was re-
elected president of the United States — and member of
congress in 1835-7.

Dudley Farlin, the subject of this sketch, was educated' at
private schools and academies, and under private teachers.
His quick perception enabled him readily to grapple with
and master those practical branches which are indispensable
in a business calling. In fact, he may be said to have been
a born business man. His youthful aspirations all lay in
this line, and when he early set out to engage in the toils and
conflicts of a busy life he possessed only a moderate capital,
but with it a great deal of pluck, energy and perseverance.
The geniality and honesty of the boy also drew around him
warm friends, whom he held by strong and lasting ties.

He was only too glad to do something for himself in a
pecuniary way, and found his first employment as a clerk in
a store at Warrensburgh, kept by James W. Bishop, and
now owned and occupied by A. T. Pasco & Son as a harness
shop and store. Here he worked for several years, having
for his associate clerk the late A. C. Emerson, father of the
present state senator from Warren county. Both these
young clerks conducted themselves so faithfully and effi-
ciently that they soon gained the full confidence and esteem
of their employer.

Mr. Farlin’s motto was always to attend closely to busi-
ness, believing that honest industry would be rewarded, arid
that “ the hand of the diligent maketh rich.”

1 14 Noted Living Albanians.

On leaving the store of Mr. Bishop, when about eighteen
years of age, he was encouraged with the experience he had
gained to go forward in the ways of business, and deter-
mined to succeed on the basis of right principles. Having
a great desire to see more of the world as well as to engage
in larger fields of operation he visited California in 1866,
and then sailed for Oceanica, spending seven years in Aus-
tralia, New Zeland, Papua, Celebes, etc., and returning to
his native land in the summer of 1872.

In 1875 his connection with the Delaware and Hudson
Canal Company’s railroad began. He served at first as as-
sistant general freight agent, but his rare business qualities
soon caused his elevation to the position which he now
holds, not of “ necessity but of a willing mind ” for his su-
preme love of business activities. To him an inactive life
would be like a lingering death.

Mr. Farlin is truly an indefatigable worker, and spends
most of his time in his office in the Delaware and Hudson
railroad building, faithfully discharging his duties as the
head of the freight department — duties which are of large
extent and often of an intricate nature. He makes all the
contracts of the company, not only for the state of New
York, but throughout the United States. The responsibility
of such a position, as any one must see at a glance, is very
great, and demands the utmost vigilance and closest
thought. But all his daily office labors are performed
with an ease, regularity and thoroughness that must
surprise any one who is in the least acquainted v/ith the
nature and extent of the work. Nothing is done in con-
nection with freight for the Delaware and Hudson railroad
without his knowledge and consent.

In 1882 Mr. Farlin became interested in the Virginia Oil

Dudley Farlin.

^15

Company, and subsequently in the Kentucky and Tennessee
Oil and Mineral Company, and the Lima Oil Company of
which he was president and principal stockholder, and which
he recently sold for $800,000. He has also been prominently
identified with a number of electric light companies. He is
president of the Edison Light and Power Company of Al-
bany; The Norwich, N. Y., Illuminating Company; Coopers-
town Electric Light Company; The Merchants’ Oil Com-
pany ; The Manhattan Oil Company, and The Albany Oil
Company.

The large and flourishing Manhattan Oil Company is one
in which Mr. Farlin takes special interest and pride in de-
veloping its resources. Its production is already 4,000 bar-
rels daily ; its output is 3,700 barrels daily ; while in a few
weeks its production will be 5,500 barrels daily and its out-
put 5,000 barrels daily. It has 445 cars contracted and
375 on track, and owns 35,000 acres of oil territory.

Mr. Farlin is also a director of the Ballston Electric Light
Company. He was recently chosen president of the Ken-
tucky and Tennessee Oil and Mining Company, whose pos-
sessions include petroleum, cannel coal, live oak and poplar
timber and 300,000 acres of land in Kentucky and Ten-
nessee. This new and enterprising company is capitalized
at $600,000. Its petroleum output alone is expected to
greatly exceed that of the Lima Company, which was
80,000 barrels ,a month. Its principal office will be in Al-
bany, with branches in New York city and Rugby, Tennessee.

Mr. Farlin has been truly a successful man in all the busi-
ness relations of life ; and he is doubtless well pleased that
his now ample means enable him to accomplish with a gen-
erous hand so much good for his fellow-men. His sympa-
thies are, especially, on the side of true young men who are

ii6

Noted Living Albanians.

struggling, as he was formerly compelled to do, to reach
higher places of trust and responsibility in life ; and many
such he has encouraged by his words and aided financially.
His own remarkable success has given him none of that con-
ceit so often conspicuous in others who have risen from
small beginnings in worldly affairs to wealth, exchanging
the bleak winter of adversity for the genial summer of pros
perity. In 1889 Mr. Farlin crossed the Atlantic, and made
a flying tour through England, Scotland, Ireland, etc. Re-
turning home after a few months’ absence he met with one
of the most cordial receptions among his fellow-citizens ever
given to ap Albanian.

Mr. Farlin is in heart-felt sympathy with all that tends tO'
elevate and refine the tastes of our citizens by the dissemina-
tion of sound literature. In the spring of 1890 he was
elected president of the Young Men’s association, in an ex-
citing contest by a splendid majority, receiving a plurality
of 634 out of 1,158 votes cast. His name will be a tower of
strength to that noble association, and he will carefully
watch over its best interests and rejoice in its increasing
prosperity.

In personal appearance Mr. Farlin is of a rather stout
build, with broad shoulders and a massive forehead indica-
tive of the ability to perform much severe and protracted
mental labor and to carry on different works, simultaneously,
without confusion or distraction of mind.

But one of the most striking elements in his character is
his kindly disposition, his extreme generosity and unbounded
liberality, with a most courteous, gentlemanly bearing
toward all, “ both high and low, both rich and poor.” At
the same time he is naturally of a very modest, unassuming
turn of mind, shunning publicity in his many kindly deeds

Dudley Farlin.

117

as much as many others court it. The great success of his
public and private business interests shows his superior
qualifications as a manager of corporations arid companies,
while the happy combinations of the best qualities of the
head and heart have made him one of the most popular
men in Albany. In social life he is as successful as he is in
the financial world, and is held in the highest esteem by all
who know him. He is at the same time a close observer of
human nature and human actions, and in his business affairs
as well as in his works of beneficence he seldom makes a
mistake. His generous promptings come wholly from the
heart, and he seems to find the highest pleasure in doing
good, seeking, in the discharge of his stewardship, to merit
the divdne approval, “ Well done, good and faithful servant.”
In 1862 Mr. Farlin married a Tennessee lady who, like
himself, possesses a benevolent disposition, noble Christian
virtues, and “a meek and quiet spirit.” Mr. and Mrs. Far-
lin make their present home at the Kenmore hotel in this
city. They have no children living.

DOUW HENRY FONDA.

N ALBANIAN who has long been actively and suc-
^ cessfully engaged in an important, special commercial
interest in this city, and who, at the same time, has taken
an active part in the promotion of sound education and
municipal prosperity is Douw H. Fonda, the popular, enter-
prising wholesale druggist, of Nos. 70 and 72 State street.

Born on the loth of September, 1831, in the picturesque
village of Fonda, N. Y., he comes from a substantial line of
Holland ancestry, noted in the olden times, some of whose
members have held important and responsible public positions
in this state, and aided largely in the development of the ma-
terial and intellectual resources of the country. He is a son
of the late G. T. B. Fonda, a highly esteemed citizen of the
town of Fonda, N. Y. The maiden name of his mother was
Rachel Polhemus, who was married to Mr. Fonda about
the year 1829, and who died July 5, 1844.

His grandfather was Douw Adam Fonda, also of Fonda,
N. Y., who was a member of the assembly from the counties
of Montgomery and Hamilton in 1833, and who died July
5, 1855, leaving a high record as a useful, honorable, pub-
lic-spirited citizen. His great-grandfather was Adam Fonda,
a son of Douw Fonda, an early settler of Fonda, which in
his time bore the Indian name of Caughnawaga. He ex-

Douw H. Fonda.

119

perienced many of those hardships which fell to the lot of
the original settlers of this country. But he faced the dan-
gers which surrounded him with a brave heart, until struck
down by merciless, savage hands. In 1780, during the revo-
lutionary war, this old pioneer was killed by the Indians in
one of their stealthy, murderous attacks upon the defenseless
inhabitants of the Mohawk valley. His memory will always
be venerated by his descendants who rejoice in the posses-
sion of a goodly heritage, so long protected from the toma-
hawk and the scalping-knife.

His great-great-grandfather was Jellis Adam Fonda, who
was born in 1668, and who married a daughter of Peter Winne,
of Albany, N. Y., in 1695. Jellis Douwse PAnda was the
first of the name in the Mohawk valley. He appears to have
been a resident of Beverwyck (Albany) as early as 1654, only
thirty-one years after the erection of old Fort Orange by the
West India Company. We find that his wife’s name was
Hester, who in 1666, was the widow of Barnet Gerritse.

Douw H. Fonda, the subject of this memoir, received the
rudiments of his education in the common schools of his
native place. He diligently improved the intellectual ad-
vantages afforded him in the old school-house, with a view,
principally, of early fitting himself for some useful, practical
business. The opportunity soon came, when he was to go
forth a youthful adventurer and engage in the stern realities
of life, and grow up to manhood with settled principles of
activity and integrity.

Leaving the parental roof before he had reached his four-
teenth year, he came to Albany and served as a messenger
boy in the assembly in the winter of 1845, when Horatio
Seymour was speaker of the house. On the adjournment
of that legislative session he went to New York city and

120

Noted Living Albanians.

filled a clerkship in a dry goods store for two years. In 1847
he found employment as a rodman in a corps of civil en-
gineers, on the old Utica and Schenectady railroad for two
years more. In 1849 took a position under the late
Hon. Webster Wagner, as assistant at Palatine Bridge. He
remained with Mr. Wagner until September, 1853, and was
greatly esteemed by him for his steady, industrious and
faithful characteristics.

Before the close of 1853, immediately after the organiza-
tion of the Spraker bank of Canajoharie, young Fonda, then
twenty-two years of age, secured the position of teller in
the new institution, and after two years’ service in this
capacity he was promoted, chiefly on account of his readi-
ness and correctness in figures and his uprightness as a
young man. In 1855 he was elected cashier of the Spraker
bank, and for twelve years continued to discharge the duties
of that responsible position in a careful, thorough, business-
like manner, and with more than ordinary ability. Always
at his post of duty, gentlemanly in his deportment and
obliging in his manner, he was regarded as a model cashier
by those with whom he came in contact in business matters.

At the close of this long period of creditable service
in the bank, Mr. Fonda concluded to embark in the drug
trade as the great work of his life and as being still more
suitable to his taste ; and, accordingly, on the 2d of May,
1865 — a day memorable in the history of Albany, when
the remains of Abraham Lincoln lay in state in the capitol
— he came to Albany and shortly afterward started out in
his new business in company with Thomas Bagley, under
the firm name of Fonda & Bagley. The venture was a suc-
cessful one, and for thirteen years the house did an excel-
lent business in its wholesale trade. In 1878 this firm

Douw H. Fonda.

I2I

was dissolved and that of Douw H. Fonda & Co. formed,
which firm continued in existence until the 2ist day of Jan-
uary, 1889, when a new incorporated company was organized,
of which Douw H. Fonda is the able and efficient president.

In the midst of his confining mercantile duties, Mr. Fonda
has found time to attend to educational matters in Albany.
Early in 1880 he was elected a member of the board of
public instruction, and for five years in all, served the best
interests of education in this capacity. One of his first efforts,
when a member of the board, was his introduction of a reso-
lution, the ultimate object of which was to make the public
school library free to all citizens — a resolution which was
carried into successful operation, in 1881, with the election
of a librarian.

For twenty years Mr. Fonda has been a member of the
Masonic society. Temple lodge. No. 14.- He is also a mem-
ber of the Fort Orange club, the Albany club, the Holland
society, a trustee of the reserve fund of the New York
State Relief association, a director of the Life Union Insur-
ance Company of New York city, etc. He has been a
member of the church and congregation of the State Street
Presbyterian church for over twenty-five years.

He has been twice married. The maiden name of his
first wife was Mary A. French of Canajoharie, N. Y.; that of
his present wife, Ellen A. Barker of the same place. He is
the owner of the original Fonda mansion at Fonda, N. Y.,
a relic of the olden time, around which many interesting
associations cluster in the minds of the descendants of this
sturdy old race.

Mr. Fonda’s career is an ideal one, especially, in a busi-
ness point — an admirable illustration of what a young man
of correct habits and honorable dealings may attain to
16

122

Noted Living Albanl\ns.

under our free institutions. From the day he left home,
when scarcely fourteen years old, till the present time his
hands and his heart have been engaged with untiring in-
dustry* in works of a practical, beneficial nature.

A man of modest and retiring manners, with high and
honorable impulses, his chief ambition in life seems to have
been to do whatever he has undertaken in an able and con-
scientious manner, without courting the applause of his
fellow-citizens or seeking ofiicial positions.

AMOS FOWLER, M. D.

IN THE galaxy of Albany physicians whose professional
labors have done so much toward alleviating physical
suffering, the name of Dr. Amos Fowler stands conspicuous.

This celebrity he has attained after long years of patient
toil, deep study, and constant practice. He was born in the
town of Cohocton, Steuben county, N. Y., on the 5th day of
July, 1820. His ancestors were among those from the old,
enterprising eastern states, who loved so much to set the
wheels of civilization in motion and turn the wilderness into
a garden. Removing at an early day from Lebanon, Con-
necticut, they came to the wild forests of Herkimer county,
N. Y.j and there with brave hearts and strong hands went
to work to open up the wilderness around them, little
dreaming that in after years flourishing towns and villages
should spring up in this delightful region of Central New
York. Among those pioneers were Mark Fowler, uncle of
General Amos Fowler, and Rev. and Hon. Orin Fowler.
Mark Fowler had a family of nine children, most of whom
were sons, and who grew up to accomplish heroic work in
leveling the thick old trees, in developing the resources and
aiding in the prosperity of the new country. Mr. Fowler
died in 1813, during the second war with England, on the
very day (April 27) when the American army was trium-

124

Noted Living Albanians.

phantly transported from Sackett’s Harbor and took pos-
session of York, the capital of Upper Canada.

Alvin, the youngest son of Mark Fowler, was the father
of Dr. Fowler, the subject of this sketch.' A remarkable
story is told of Alvin when he was about two years old.
Living in the old log cabin, amidst the dense forests around
it, where bears, wolves and other wild animals nightly
prowled, and where the cheering rays of the sun scarcely
ever penetrated, he was one day seized by a bear which had
been caught and chained near the cabin door. Mrs. Fowler,
agonized with grief, tried in vain to release her baby boy
from the threatening embrace of the bear, and it was not
until Mr. Fowler returned home from his work in the even-
ing that the child was delivered, like David of old, from the
paws of the bear. Though the writer had heard this story
repeated, yet he was disposed to regard it as one of the
many sensational bear stories so frequently told through the
country, until he learned from the lips of the present Dr. Fow-
ler himself that it was indeed true. It was certainly a sur-
prising instance of infantile preservation, sparing one who
was to become the father of a man, who, under God, has
been the humble instrument of saving many a patient from
the jaws of death.

Alvin Fowler was by occupation a clothier and stone
mason. He was a man of indomitable courage and high
moral character. The present Dr. Amos Fowler was the
eldest of four children, and while he was an infant his father
removed with the family, first to Evans’ Mills, Jefferson
county, thence five years afterward to Fayetteville, Onon-
daga county, where he operated some mills for the manu-
facture of woolen goods. In 1836 he settled on a farm in the
town of Victory, Cayuga county, where about twenty-five

Amos Fowler, M. D.

125

years of his useful life were happily passed amidst “ rural
sights and rural sounds.”

Young Amos Fowler was sent at first to the public schools,
and afterward he became a student at the academies of
Fayetteville and Victory. He was noted as a diligent stu-
dent, manifesting supreme devotion to his books and making
commendable progress in the elementary branches of edu-
cation. He worked on his father’s farm during the warmer
months and attended school in winter. On account of the
limited pecuniary means of their parents this was the way
that many of the sons of the old pioneers, who afterward
rose to distinction and became sterling, useful members of
society, were obliged to obtain their early education. On
leaving the academy young Fowler taught school two
winters in Wayne and one in Cayuga county. But he had
no idea of becoming a life-long teacher. It was about this
time that his attention was turned to his much-loved study
and investigation of medical science. His father tried to
discourage him from the study of medicine, but his genius
lay entirely in this direction, and he preferred to struggle on
amidst hardships and poverty to obtain the prize of his
youthful ambition. He first read medicine in the office of
Dr. Blanchard of Victory, and a year or two afterward be-
came a student and assistant of Dr. Root at Memphis,
Onondaga county. In the meantime he attended a course
of lectures at the Geneva Medical college, and graduated
at the University of the City of New York in 1846. *Dr.*
Valentine Mott, the eminent surgeon, was then at the head
of that renowned university, ably assisted by Professors
Granville S. Paterson, John Revere, Martin Paine, Gun-
ning S. Bedford and John W. Draper. On graduation
Dr. F'owler had little or no money, but plenty of pluck,

126

Noted Living Albanians.

energy, perseverance combined with rare medical skill. His
practice opened auspiciously. His former teacher, Dr.
Root, had just died, and our young doctor took up his prac-
tice, gaining the confidence of Dr. Root’s old patients, and
exhibiting more than ordinary skill in his professional work.
His practice soon became quite extensive, and he was sent
for from distant parts of the country in consultations over
difficult or dangerous cases. Success attended him, and he
was esteemed not only for his excellent professional attain-
ments, but for his substantial personal traits of character.
While practicing at Memphis about the yfear 1847, ^ fearful
epidemic of typhoid dysentery broke out, spreading with
alarming rapidity over the surrounding country. Dr. Fow-
ler was now called upon to exercise his greatest skill. For
weeks he rode day and night, visiting as many as eighty
patients a day, and it is a remarkable fact that out of the
six hundred cases he treated he lost but two or three
patients.

After practicing at Memphis about four years Dr. Fowler
came to Sand Lake, Rensselaer county, and after remaining
there four years, he found a much larger field of labor by
taking up his permanent residence in Albany in 1854. He
first located at 40 Second street, and in 1872 crossed over to
his present residence. No. 29 of the same street. In 1854,
during the prevalence of the cholera in Albany, Dr. Fowler
was called to attend numerous cases, and was successful in
saving the lives of many who were stricken with the disease,
some of whom were given up to die by other physicians.

Dr. Fowler’s medical career in Albany has been one of
continued and growing success. His practice is now one of
the most extensive of any physician’s in the city. He is a
hard-working physician, and his familiar form may be daily

Amos Fowler, M. D. 127

seen riding through the streets attending to the calls of the
sick and suffering.

It is particularly worthy of notice here that when the great
epidemic of diphtheria — a disease then almost unknown to
our physicians here — broke out with such fearful mortality in
1858, carrying off so many hundreds of children, Dr. Fowler
struck on a mode of treating the disease which proved so
wonderfully successful in saving life, that several of our
leading physicians came to him to find out his peculiar
mode of treatment.

Dr. Fowler has been vice-president of the Medical society
of Albany, a delegate to the State Medical society and he
is now a permanent member of the State Medical society.
In 1850 he married Miss Harris of Sand Lake, who died
suddenly at Savannah, Ga., in 1880, while returning from
the South. In 1882 he married his present wife, whose
maiden name was Mary Evans. The doctor and his es-
timable lady are now members of the Fourth Presbyterian
church of this city.

HOWARD N. FULLER.

An ALBANIAN in whom are happily united literary
talents and successful business qualities, and who,
while scarcely in the full meridian of life has risen to the
foremost rank of the distinguished young men of the capital
city is Howard N. Fuller. Of unassuming manners, modest
pretension, equable and cordial disposition, his sterling
worth has brought him into high and universal esteem. He
was born at New Baltimore, Greene Co., N. Y., on the 28th
of October, 1853.

“ Some try to wheedle fame from coffined dust;

Fame comes uncalled unto the noble, just.”

These lines from Mr. Fuller’s own pen must be accepted
as proof of his independence of ancestral greatness as a
means of acquiring individual distinction, or as an incentive
to personal achievements. Although he lays no claim to
superior lineage he comes from an honored ancestory. His
father descended from sturdy Holland stock and his mother
from a good old Anglo-Saxon line. The more imme-
diate ancestry of Mr. Fuller, it is said, can be traced
back to Thomas Fuller, a clergyman, who came over in the
Mayflower in 1620, and settled as a pastor in Connecticut,
and who left his descendants, if nothing else, “ the heritage

‘IBSaa-i

Howard N. Fuller.

129

of an honored name.” His father, William Fuller, is still a
resident of New Baltimore. He is a man of admirable
traits of character, of decision and perseverance, who, in
his younger days, experienced unusual hardships while striv-
ing to advance his station in life. By his invincible energy
he rose superior to adverse conditions and circumstances,
and has attained an eminent position in society, besides ac-
quiring, by frugality and foresight, an ample sufficiency of
worldly goods. The following lines from the poem, My
Father,” by the subject of this sketch, is an affectionate
filial tribute to a kind parent and a noble man :

“ He has lived a life of loving,

Which fulfils the higher plan,

That professing is the doing,—

Love to God means love to man.”

He married Miss Lydia A. Swezey, and for more than
forty years the devoted couple lived together at New Balti-
more. Three years ago the nuptial tie was broken by the
death of Mrs. Fuller in her seventy-second year. Both par-
ents found great comfort in the society of their children.

Howard N. Fuller received his earliest instruction at the
primary school of his native’ village, taught by Miss Jean-
nette Griffith. He early showed his taste for literature and
his parents were glad to further his inclination. He was
next sent to the Coeymans academy, then under the prin-
cipalship of the late Thomas McKee, a man of ripe scholar-
ship and an excellent instructor. At the age of fifteen
young Fuller entered the Rutgers college grammar school
at New Brunswick, N. J., with his brother Perry J., who is
now a prosperous lawyer of New York city. He remained
there a year, and entering Rutgers college with the class of
’74 he completed the regular college course of four years’
17

130

Noted Living Albanians.

study, and was graduated with high honor at that excellent,

time-honored institution, then under the presidency of the

scholarly Rev. Dr. William H. Campbell. The literary

efforts of Mr. Fuller while at college were rewarded with

success. In 1873 he won the junior Philoclean literary

prize, and in the following year he secured the senior

English composition prize. During his college days Mr.

Fuller was not only a great lover of classical and English

literature but also of athletic sports, and was delegated by

Rutgers in 1873 to meet representatives of Yale, Harvard,

Princeton, Columbia, and the university of Pennsylvania at

New York to make rules and regulations to govern colle-
*

giate foot-ball playing. The work of that committee was ap-
proved by all the colleges, and the rules then adopted
govern foot-ball playing of American colleges to-day.
While at college Mr. Fuller devoted an occasional spare
hour from his studies to the exercise of his poetical genius.
Among other pieces, he wrote a college song : “ On the
Banks of the Old Raritan,” which has ever since been the'
standard college song of old Rutgers.

The New Brunswick, N. J., Fredonian June 18, 1889,
spoke of Mr. Fuller as “ the author of that grand old song,
which fires the heart of every Rutgers’ man, ‘ On the Banks
of the Old Raritan ’ His name will live in that song so long
as the stones in old Rutgers’ walls stand one above another.”

After completing his course of collegiate study, Mr. P'ul-
ler returned home, and during the following year began the
publication of the New Baltimore Sun, which was discon-
tinued shortly afterward for lack of advertising support.
In the summer of 1876 he came to Albany, where he be-
came connected with the firm of William Fuller & Sons, com-
posed of his father and two brothers, government contract-

Howard N. Fuller.

131

ors and dealers in building materials. In order to increase
his general store of information, while continuing his busi-
ness relations with his firm, he successively pursued a one
year’s course in both law and medicine, and for another year
thereafter, or until the death of its proprietor, managed and
edited the Greenbush Gazette. While successful in business
matters he has shown marked ability in other directions.
He has devoted many hours to literary work, and is ac-
knowledged to be a clever writer. His genius is not limited
in style or scope, but he is equally happy in serious and
humorous composition. For two years he wrote a column of
witty paragraphs for the Yonkers Gazette, which gave him
great prominence in the world of humor, besides contribut-
ing at the same time to the several humorous periodicals of
the country. He has enlivened the columns of Judge with his
paragraphs and poems, and has composed a number of songs
which have become popular. One of his songs is, “ God Bless
the Little Woman,” the sentiments of which were suggested
to him when President Garfield was laid low by the assas-
sin’s bullet, and when the devoted wife was tenderly watch-
ing over him. Some time afterward, Mrs. Garfield, in a per-
sonal note, gracefully expressed her thanks to him for a
hymn which had not only touched her own heart, but that of
the nation. Another touching tribute to the martyred presi-
dent is his hymn “ The Heart of the Nation is Sad To-day.”
The Albany Argus said of this production: “The song,
in fact, is about the only one written in commemoration of
the martyred president’s death that is worthy of the subject.”
The poem on the death of General Grant, which first ap-
peared in the Albany Journal, found wide publicity, and
elicited much favorable criticism. It is regarded as a meri-
torious example of poetic art, and a fine heroic ode, com-

Noted Living Albanians.

bining simplicity of diction, exalted sentiment and skillful
construction. One of his most popular sentimental songs,
‘‘ The Dear Old Home,” was probably inspired by a visit to
the home of his childhood. It was sung with great success
by Thatcher, Primrose & West’s minstrel troop. Mr. Ful-
ler is also the author of the ‘^Bi-Centennial Hymn,” written
by request of the committee of arrangements, which was
sung in concert by the thousands of Albany’s school chil-
dren, and in the city churches, during that memorable event
in the annals of Albany.

Mr. Fuller has done considerable literary work of a serious
and religious character. Some of his productions, which
have appeared in the Youth' s Companion, of Boston, The
Independe7it, Christian Intelligencer and other religious
weeklies, unmistakably reveal great literary genius.

His poetical compositions are, for the most part, of the
lyrical and pastoral order, and reveal the true poetic instinct.
His sacred poems display the sympathetic impulses and the
pure religious fervor characteristic of refined sensibili-
ties. He has written a number of patriotic poems of high
excellence, and is a charming writer of light amatory verse.
He is also the author of many songs of diversified character,
some of which have been widely sung and possess enduring
qualities. His superior faculty for poetical writing is proba-
bly best reflected in his pastoral poems. The following on
“ Home and Happiness,” is a beautiful alliterative poem :

“ How happy is the home,

Wherein contentment dwells,

There labor’s restless loom
The song of concord swells;

There comfort proud presides
O’er fortune’s scanty store
And gladness calmly glides
Unceasing through its door.

Howard N. Fuller.

133

“ How happy is the sphere,

Where love supremely reigns,

There faith forestalleth fear,

And joy precludeth pains;

There pleasures crown the day
In sweet and swift increase,

And heaven hangs o’er the way
The golden arch of peace.”

These lines from the poem, “ Three Things I Crave,” il-
lustrate his proficiency in didactic verse :

“ Contentment is another boon I crave.

That whatsoe’er may be my lot, —

That whatsoe’er the worldly store I have,

I may submit and murmur not;

That whether fame and fortune pass me by,

Or Mammon shall my state deride,

I shall not be disposed to even sigh.

But with my lot be satisfied.”

All of Mr. Fuller’s versified writings are characterized by
that simple diction, pleasing imagery, original thought and
graceful style which constitute successful qualities in poetry.

Mr. Fuller’s time is now almost wholly absorbed by mer-
cantile matters, and his natural desire for literary work has
succumbed to the arbitrary influences of business.

Since attaining his majority Mr. Fuller has always been a
zealous participant in politics. In 1876, although but
twenty-three years old, he addressed political meetings in
several counties of the state in behalf of the national repub-
lican ticket. Always a staunch republican he has taken a
live interest in the fortunes of his party. In 1885 he was
induced, against his wishes, to accept the nomination for
alderman of the eleventh ward. He was elected and served
his constituency and the city with rare credit and fidelity
for the term of two years. He refused a renominatioh.

For three terms he has been president of the famous Uncon-

Noted Living Albanians.

ditional republican club, the chief republican organization
of the interior of the state, being the only one who has been
re-elected to the presidency of the club during its permanent
existence. He did yeoman’s work in the Harrison and Mor-
ton campaign, and directed also the affairs of the Uncondi-
tional campaign club, unquestionably one of the most pow-
erful and effective campaign organizations in the country.
As a reward for his indefatigable labor the members of both
the permanent and campaign clubs, of both of which he was
president at the time, unitedly and enthusiastically urged
his appointment as surveyor of customs for the port of
Albany. At first he strenuously objected to being a candi-
date for the office, but ignoring his feelings in the matter, his
friends pressed his case with so much persistency and vigor
that he was compelled by the force of circumstances to ac-
knowledge himself as such. There were several other formida-
ble candidates and the contest was one of the longest and,
most stubborn ever known in the history of Albany county
politics. It resulted unfavorably to Mr. Fuller, owing princi-
pally to outside and ill-advised interference. Nothing has
ever discomfited and disheartened the republicans of Albany
so much as Mr. Fuller’s defeat. He was the candidate of
the young men, the sinew and strength of the party. It
may also be here stated that he was one of the originators
and chief promoters of the national league of republican
clubs, which became a principal factor in the success of the
republican ticket in the last presidential election. Its his-
tory, progress and work are universally known.

Mr. Fuller was the republican candidate for mayor of
Albany at the recent municipal election, but as expected,
with such overwhelming democratic odds against him, he
was defeated.

Howard N. Fuller.

135

Mr. Fuller is an active member of manj^ social and literary
clubs, and takes a deep interest in the prosperity of the
Young Men’s association, Albany’s oldest and most suc-
cessful literary organization.

He is a bachelor, although possessing pronounced domes-
tic traits, a congenial spirit and a warm heart. He is uni-
versally well liked, and of such a forbearing and forgiving
disposition that a friend truthfully remarked: “Fuller has
not an enemy in the world.” Of high character, superior
attainments and good executive ability, few young men of
the city are so competent to serve the public faithfully in
offices of great trust and responsibility.

This brief sketch can be concluded no more fittingly than
by quoting his own words, beautifully expressed in the fol-
lowing lines, which are so true an index of his own life, and
whose precepts, if more faithfully and generally followed,
would lead mankind to a higher state of earthly happiness :

“ So let me live that when I die

My life shall show no blot of shame
And o’er the grave wherein I lie,

Beneath my plainly graven name,

Upon a low and modest stone,

That every eye can quickly scan,

May this be carved, and this alone:

‘He loved his God and fellow-man.’”

MATTHEW HALE.

MAN of fine legal attainments and of high personal
character, who has been a steady resident of Albany
for the past twenty-two years is the Hon. Matthew Hale. On
the 20th of June, 1829, in the little town of Chelsea, in the
state of Vermont, this well-known jurist first saw the light of
day. His ancestry is in every respect a notable one — includ-
ing admirable combinations of intellectual, moral and relig-
ious principles. His father, Harry Hale, was a descendant of
one Thomas Hale, an English yeoman, who immigrated to
this country in 1638, and settled in Newbury, Mass.
Harry Hale was a leading citizen in his day, and a man of
great excellence of character. He was born in 1780, and
when about twenty years of age formed a partnership with
his brother Nathan, and became a country merchant, first
at Windsor and afterward at West Windsor, Vt. He re-
moved to Chelsea, Vt., where he still carried on a country
store under the firm-name of Hale & Dickinson. A few
years before the birth of his son Matthew, he retired from
trade and devoted himself to the managem.ent of a grist
mill and to farming. He was a captain of the militia, held
various town offices; and in 1828, ’32, and ’36, represented
Chelsea in the Vermont legislature. He was also for several
years county clerk of Orange county, and about the year 1835,

Matthew Hale.

137

was elected by the legislature bank commissioner of the state.
A memorial window of stained glass may be seen to-day in
the rear of the pulpit of the Congregational church, in Chel-
sea, which not only gives the name and dates of birth and
death of Harry Hale, but describes him as “ foremost among
those who builded this house to the worship of God, i8io.”
Mr. Harry Hale was twice married. His first wife was
Phebe Adams, by whom he had eleven children ; his second
wife was Lucinda Eddy, by whom he had seven more chil-
dren, the youngest being the present distinguished Matthew
Hale. The mother of our Mr. Hale was a direct descend-
ant of Miles Standish and John Alden of Mayflower
renown, through a son of Miles Standish who married a
daughter of John Alden and Priscilla (Mullens) Alden. •
Matthew spent his boyhood under the parental roof at
Chelsea, engaged in the usual sports, labors and studies of
a country boy. By this means his young constitution was
greatly strengthened, and he became a strong and vigorous
lad. It was his father’s delight to give him a generous edu-
cation, as he did all his children, sending him to the best
schools in his native town, and afterward to the academy
at Bradford, Vt. In 1847 entered the university of Ver-
mont, at Burlington, where he bore the reputation of being
a close and successful student, excelling especially in classi-
cal studies, in which he stood at the head of his class. He
was deservedly popular with his classmates and instructors
while at college, manifesting a cheerful and sunny disposi-
tion which in all the turmoil and conflict of professional life
has never forsaken him. He was graduated with honor from
the university of Vermont, in 1851, at the age of twenty-
two. In 1854 he delivered a master’s oration at the com-
mencement of that year.

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Noted Living Albanians.

His natural genius inclined him to the study of the law,
and accordingly he entered as a student in the law office of
Kellogg & Hale at Elizabethtown, Essex county, in this
state. This firm was composed of Hon. Orlando Kellogg
and Hon. Robert S. Hale, an older brother of Matthew, who
represented his district in congress for two terms ; and was
for many years a regent of the university of the state of
New York, but died in i88i.

After two years of legal study Matthew Hale was ad-
mitted to practice at the general term of the supreme court,
held at Salem, Washington county, N. Y., in 1853. He first
began to practice at Poughkeepsie, where he formed a part-
nership with his brother, Henry Hale, which lasted about
two years. On his brother’s removal to St. Paul, Minn.,
he formed another partnership with Gen. A. B. Smith. The
firm of Hale & Smith did a large amount of law business,
and was well and favorably known far outside of Pough-
keepsie.

Mr. Hale removed to New York city in 1859 became
a law partner of the late Lot C. Clark, a well-read lawyer
and a gentleman of fine literary tastes. The law firm of
Clark & Hale had offices in New York and on Staten Island,
and had a large practice, not only in the metropolis but in
Richmond county.

In December, 1863, Mr. Hale, for family reasons, returned
to Elizabethtown, and became a member of the firm of
Hand & Hale, which consisted of the late Hon. A. C. Hand
(his father-in-law), Richard L. Hand and himself. Judge
A. C. Hand, the senior member of this firm, we may remark,
was one of the first justices of the supreme court of this
state, elected under the constitution of 1846. The firm of
Hand & Hale was noted alike for the deep legal learning

Matthew, Hale.

139

and intellectual attainments of its members and the exten-
sive practice it obtained. In 1867 Mr. Hale, indorsed by both
political parties, was chosen a delegate from the Essex dis-
trict to the constitutional convention, which first met at
Albany on the 4th of June of that year, and served with
distinction on the judiciary committee of that body, of
which the late Hon. Charles J. Folger was chairman. Among
other distinguished members of that committee were Wil-
liam M. Evarts, Charles Andrews, now of the court of ap-
peals, Amasa J. Parker, Francis Kernan and George F.
Comstock. In the fall of the same year (1867) Mr. Hale
was elected to the state senate for the term of 1868-9,
where he was also a member of the judiciary com-
mittee.

On the death of Peter Cagger in 1868, by which the dis-
tinguished old firm of Cagger & Hand was dissolved, Mr.
Hale came to Albany and entered into a copartnership
with the late Samuel Hand and the late Nathan Swartz,
under the firm-name of Hand, Hale & Swartz. This firm
continued till 1872, when Mr. Charles S. Fairchild was
added to the firm, which took the name of Hand, Hale,
Swartz & Fairchild. The latter firm was dissolved when
Mr. Fairchild became attorney-general in 1875. Mr. Swartz
died in 1878, but Messrs. Hand & Hale continued together,
with the exception of a few months in 1878, when Mr.
Hand was on the court of appeals bench, until January,
1881. They then separated. Judge Hand continuing prac-
tice by himself, and Mr. Alpheus T. Bulkley, who had been
first a student and then a partner with Messrs. Hand &;
Hale, joining Mr. Hale under the firm-name of Hale &
Bulkley. In January, 1888, Hon. Esek Cowen, formerly of
Troy, joined them, and the present firm-name of Hale,

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Noted Living Albanians.

Cowen & Bulkley was established, consisting of Matthew
Hale, Esek Cowen and A. T. Bulkley.

Among the many important law cases in which Mr. Hale
has been engaged since his residence in this city we would
mention the following: In 1869-70 he was counsel for the
Ramsey board of directors in the memorable contest with
Fisk and Gould for the control of the Albany and Susque-
hanna railroad. Some of the ablest lawyers in the state
were brought face to face in this sharp forensic conflict.
Mr. Hale’s associates were Judge W. F. Allen, A. J. Van-
derpool, Charles Tracey, George F. Danforth, Henry Smith
and others ; while the opposing counsel were David Dudley
Field, William C. Barrett, Hon. Amasa J. Parker, General
Martindale and others. In 1872 Mr. Hale was retained by
the English stock owners of the Erie Railway Company in
the contest with Fisk, Gould and others to obtain control
of that corporation. He was counsel for defendant in the
mayoralty suit of Judson against Thacher ; counsel for the
People in the canal suits instituted by Governor Tilden; coun-
sel for the People in the trial of John F. Smyth before the
senate in 1878 — where his closing argument before that
body is said to have been an effort of extraordinary ability
and learning, being listened to with profound interest — and
counsel for Dr. Swinburne in the case of the People against
M. N. Nolan.

In suits now or very recently pending, Mr. Hale is coun-
sel for the - Central National bank of Boston, holder of
receiver’s certificates of the Lebanon Springs Railroad Com-
pany to the amount of $250,000; for General Burt’s estate,
in suits to recover $1,500,000 from the Continental Con-
struction and Improvement Company and others, growing
out of the attempted construction of the consolidated

Matthew Hale.

141

Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railroad Company;
for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, in several
important suits brought in New York city, and also for the
New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company in
suits pending in the court of appeals. He has also been
engaged in several important criminal trials, and has
defended a great number of actions brought for injuries
alleged to have resulted from negligence against the New
York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company and
other corporations. He was counsel in the famous bank
tax litigation in a number of suits and proceedings in the
state and federal courts, some of which went to the
supreme court of the United States, and were there argued
by him. He was associated with Hon. Wager Swayne,
as counsel for the Western Union Telegraph Com-
pany, in the litigation with the state respecting its taxa-
tion under the corporation tax law. He has frequently
been counsel for various parties in legislative investigations
and proceedings. During his residence in Albany he has
tried a large number of cases in various parts of the state,
as well as at home, in which he has had a fair share of suc-
cess.

Thus it will be clearly seen from this summary that the
experience of Mr. Hale as a counselor has been exceedingly
varied, including the trial of cases of both local and general
interest, and that the legal duties he has already performed
have often been of the most complicated, difficult and
laborious nature.

In 1883 Mr. Hale was the republican candidate for justice
of the supreme court, running ahead of his ticket, but was
defeated by Hon. Rufus W. Peckham. In 1884 he was com-
missioner of appraisement of Niagara Falls reservation; and

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Noted Living Albanians.

in 1887 was on the commission with Hon. Elbridge T. Gerry
of New York and Dr. Southwick of Buffalo, to report the
most humane and practical method of capital punishment,
whose report in favor of the present system of execution
by electricity was adopted by the legislature of 1888.

As a writer his style with comparatively little indulgence
in flights of fancy, is perspicuous, strong and vigorous. It
is founded more on the classical model, the outlines of
which he chiefly formed while in college poring over the old
Greek and Latin authors. His arguments are strong and
weighty, commanding the close attention of thoughtful, cul-
tivated blinds.

Mr. Hale has read several papers before the State Bar as-
sociation. In March, 1888, he delivered an address at the
commencement of the Albany Medical college ; and in
June of the same year addressed the alumni of the univer-
sity of Vermont, taking for his subject, “ Civilization in the
United States ” — his address being to some extent a com-
mentary on the article of Matthew Arnold on that subject
in the Nineteenth Century. He has also on many occasions
delivered addresses before societies and public assemblies.
Besides his extensive law library, Mr. Hale has a large and
choice private collection of books, embracing the standard
authors, both ancient and modern, on almost all subjects
within the range of human learning, and many a passing
hour does he pleasantly and profitably spend while free
from professional work, in poring over this intellectual
wealth, and in enriching his own mind with the choicest senti-
ments of the master spirits of the present and bygone ages.

As one of the most scholarly of our citizens, as well as a
man of strict integrity, Mr. Hale’s abilities have been duly
recognized by literary societies here and elsewhere. He has

Matthew Hale.

143

been a member and trustee of the Fort Orange club since
its organization. He is also a trustee and vice-president of
the old Albany Savings bank ; a member of the Reform
club of New York, and the University club of the same city.
He is vice-president of the Commonwealth club of New York
city, and has been president of the united chapters of the Phi
Beta Kappa society, in which he is co-senator with George
William Curtis, Edward Everett Hale, Justin Winsor, Colo-
nel T. W. Higginson, James Russell Lowell, Joseph H.
Choate and others. He has been an active member of the
New York State Bar association from the time of its organi-
zation, and is now president of that association. In 1883
he received the degree of LL.D. from the university of
Vermont.

In politics Mr. Hale, at first a whig, espoused the princi-
ples of the republican party at its formation. He cast his
first presidential vote in 1856 for General Fremont. He
has, however, manifested an independence of spirit rising
above party considerations, creating no little adverse criti-
cism in a portion of the republican ranks. On the proposed
third term nomination of General Grant in 1880, he used
his pen and his voice against the measure. He addressed
public meetings in Albany on the subject, and was president
of an anti-third term club in Albany. On the 26th of April,
1880, he delivered a lecture in Steinway hall, New York,
before a large audience, on “ The Conditions and Limits of
Party Fealty.” About the same time he wrote an elaborate
article on the third term question, which was published in
the National Quarterly Review and copied in newspapers
throughout the country. From personal convictions he
favored the election of Grover Cleveland for the presidency
in 1884 and supported him for re election in 1888.

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Noted Living Albanians.

Mr. Hale has for several years acted on the conviction
that independence of party is the highest duty of the citizen
— that no nomination by any party should be considered
binding by an intelligent voter merely because he may be
known as a member of that party ; and that at every election
it is the duty of the elector to cast his vote for the candi-
dates whose election in his judgment will most promote the
interests of the nation, state, county or city, without refer-
ence to the party by which such candidates may have been
nominated.

Mr. Hale’s personal appearance is impressive. He is of a
rather broad, robust frame, with a bold, large forehead of
classical mould. His countenance, while beaming with a
high order of intelligence, indicates that he is also possessed
of a genial, playful humor, and a feeling of good will toward
all classes of citizens. When fully aroused to action in
public debate he is bold and defiant, and altogether a strong,
undaunted foeman for any antagonist to meet on any
forensic battlefield.

Mr. Hale, in 1856, married Ellen S. Hand (daughter of
Hon. A. C. Hand), who died in 1867. In 1877 he married
his present wife, Mary, daughter of Colonel Francis L. Lee,
of Boston, and now has five children, three daughters and
two sons, the eldest of whom was born in January, 1879.

CHARLES ROSWELL HALL.

MONG the young men of Albany, who, by a steady
^ and unfailing devotion to the principles of professional
and official duty, deserve a just recognition for representa-
tive character, is Charles R. Hall, deputy superintendent of
the banking department of the state of New York. He is
another example of many of those descendants of Connecti-
cut pioneers who have helped so much to develop the re-
sources and advance the civilization and prosperity of
this country. He was born on the 17th of September, 1853,
in the town of Guilford, Chenango county, N. Y., where his
father, John P. Hall, owned and cultivated a farm, and
where he lived for many years and until his death in 1875.

This branch of the Hall family originally came from Eng-
land in the early part of the seventeenth century, and
settled in Connecticut, where they endured with heroic
spirits the privations and trials incident to other pioneers
in the wilderness of the new world, surrounded by roving
tribes of Indians and often exposed to their murderous
attack.

The maiden name of the mother of Charles R. Hall was
Sarah Hart Purdy. She was a descendant of the noted
Mead family, who were also early settlers about Greenwich,
Conn., and whose genealogy has been given to the

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Noted Living Albanians.

public in an interesting work. Mrs. Hall is still living to
receive the affectionate care of her son and to witness his
well-deserved success in life, a useful, active and intelligent
member of society.

Young Hall was brought up under the paternal roof in
habits of industry, simplicity and honest labor, working on
the old farm to the full extent of his youthful physical
powers. He was first sent to the district school of his neigh
borhood, and afterward attended the village school of Guil-
ford. That he was a diligent, apt and persevering student
may be seen from the fact that we find him, at the age of
seventeen, successfully teaching the common school in his
own district. On the close of his first school term he went
to Brockport, N. Y., in the fall of 1870, where he com-
menced a course of study at the normal school at that
place. During the vacations of the institution he taught
common schools at various places in Monroe county, in
Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. His ardent
temperament and deep love of knowledge impelled him
onward in the pursuit of a generous education and in the
preparation for a profession for which he had early tastes
and aspirations, and that was the law. In the autumn of
1874 he took up his study in the office of Judge Alberto T.
Roraback, of Canaan, Conn., where he was then teaching
school. Returning home the following summer he filed his
certificate of clerkship and entered the law office of Horace
Packer, at Oxford, N. Y., as a student ; but after pursuing
his legal studies for several months he was obliged to re-
linquish them temporarily on account of an affection of the
eyes, brought on, doubtless, by too intense application to
his books. In the meantime not contented to be idle, he
continued teaching school in different places until 1878,

Charles R. Hall.

when, on recovering from his ocular trouble, he again re-
sumed the study of the law with Hon. A. F. Gladding, of
Norwich, N. Y., under the direct supervision of the present
Chief Judge Follett, to whose extensive library he had ac-
cess, and to whom he is largely indebted for much of his
legal training. He continued in the office of Mr. Gladding
till the fall of i88o, when he was admitted to the bar at
Saratoga Springs at the general term of the supreme court,
held in September, and presided over by Justices Learned,
Bockes and Westbrook. The Hon. Isaac H. Maynard was
one of the examining committee on that occasion, between
whom and Mr. Hall there has ever since existed a close per-
sonal friendship.

Immediately after receiving his legal diploma Mr. Hall
began practice at Norwich, and after a year was elected
justice of the peace in the village, carrying on at the same
time his professional duties with marked ability and success.
In January, 1884, he accepted an appointment under Attor-
ney-General O’Brien, being given the exclusive charge of the
land department, and also assisting in the briefing and trial
of cases before the board of claims. His knowledge of the
law' governing state lands, whether under or out of water
gained at this time, is perhaps second to no young lawyer in
the state. He remained with Mr O’Brien till the fall of
1886, when on the appointment of Mr. Benedict as public
printer, he accepted an invitation from Comptroller Chapin
to succeed Mr. Benedict as deputy comptroller. Although
perhaps the youngest man to hold so important a position
in this state, he met the expectations of partial friends ; the
work of that department was carefully and intelligently kept
in hand ; the lists of rejected taxes were in the hands of
the several county treasurers on the ist day of September

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Noted Living Albanians.

as required by statute, for the first and only time in a
quarter of a century, and his painstaking examination of
vouchers discovered errors that saved to the state upwards
of $25,000 — with never an overpayment nor an error.

Gracefully and truly did the Albany Journal speak of the
merits of Mr. Hall when about to enter upon his new office :
“ The appointment of Mr. Charles R. Hall as deputy
comptroller is one heartily to be praised. Mr. Hall came
to Albany less than three years ago as clerk in the office of
Attorney-General O’Brien. His good qualities of head and
heart have won him during that time the respect of all those
who have relations with the state departments and the en-
tire confidence of the state officers. Mr. Hall is a democrat,
but the interests of the state lose nothing by the appoint-
ment of men of his ability and character to office. The
people of the state always have reason to rejoice at the ap-
pointment of such young men to public position.”

Mr. Hall filled the position of deputy comptroller till the
close of Mr. Chapin’s term, when he retired, having per-
formed the duties of his office in an efficient and entirely
satisfactory manner. Shortly after this he formed a partner-
ship with Frederick E. Wadhams, a rising young Albany
lawyer, for the general practice of law, under the firm name
of Wadhams & Hail. This firm still exists and enjoys a
fair share of public patronage. Its office is in the Tweddle
building.

On the i6th of April, 1889, appointed by

Superintendent Willis S. Paine, to his present position,
deputy superintendent of the banking department of the
state of New York, the duties of which he has performed
with great energy and fidelity.

Upon the resignation of Mr. Paine, October ist of that

Charles R. Hall.

149

year, Mr. Hall became acting superintendent, and won many
commendations for his satisfactory conduct of the depart-
ment in all its branches, to the time of the appointment of
Superintendent Preston on December 26th.

Mr. Hall’s early tastes were also for forensic declamation,
in which field he has won several literary prizes. He has
studied with care and interest the best writings of the great
masters of statesmanship and oratory, placing them before
him as the most graceful models. He has also written con-
siderably for the press, some of his articles being of a humor-
ous nature, and expressed in terse, telling sentences.

Mr. Hail entered the political arena as a staunch young
democrat, a position which he has ever since maintained.
In the gubernatorial contest between Robinson and Cornell,
in 1879, began public speaking in favor of the democratic
candidate ; and in the presidential contest of the following
year between Hancock and Garfield he took a still more
active part, going through Chenango county with Edward
F. Jones, now lieutenant-governor, and Hon. Walter H.
Bunn, of Cooperstown, which latter he styles the first
stump speaker for country districts in the world, outside of
Virginia.” In 1882 he was elected to the state convention
at Syracuse, principally in the interest of David B. Hill for
lieutenant-governor, for whom he entertains the highest
personal as well as political regard.

Mr. Hall was a delegate from the Twenty-sixth congres-
sional district to the national democratic convention which
met at St. Louis on the 8th of June, 1888, and renominated
Grover Cleveland for the presidency. During that exciting
and hotly contested canvass he took the stump for the
democracy, its platform and its candidates, delivering many
public addresses throughout the state.

150

Noted Living Albanians.

Mr. Hall is a member of the Fort Orange club of this
city, and of the Press club, and is an agreeable and popular
companion among his friends, and affable and pleasant to all
persons having business relations with him of an official
nature.

Retiring rather than assertive by nature, a somewhat
anomalous disposition for a public man, he has proved to be
fully able to perform well the duties of every position to
which he has been called.

Having early laid the foundation of a true manhood,
under the care and guidance of excellent parents and teach-
ers and by his own hard work and study, Mr. Hall is now
rearing a substantial intellectual structure, to which every
passing year may add something of grace, strength and dig-
nity, the whole to be completed, if life shall last, in the ful-
ness of manhood and with hands still further skilled in the
knowledge of public affairs.

Since this sketch was put in type Mr. Hall has resigned
from his position in the banking department and removed
to New York city for the practice of his profession.

CHARLES DARIUS HAMMOND.

ONE of the prominent railroad officials of our city,
whose services have been of great value to the cor-
porations with which he has been connected, is Charles D.
Hammond, the present superintendent of the Northern de-
partment of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company’s
railroad. His ancestors came from England to this country
at an early date and settled in Massachusetts. His grand-
father afterward moved to Rushford, Allegany county, N. Y.,
where he was born on the ist of March, 1844. He is a son
of the Rev. S. Y. Hammond, a member of the Genesee
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, who for half
a century faithfully discharged the regular duties of a pastor
in different parts of this state, and who is now, at the age of
eighty-one, rounding a life of consecration to the cause of
his Divine Master in the noblest of all professions, calmly and
hopefully awaiting that Master’s summons to a blessed im-
mortality. The maiden name of his mother was Martha
Adams, a devoted Christian lady, who departed this life in
1863.

Charles D. Hammond, the subject of this sketch, is of the
fifth generation in a direct line from the original settlers of
that name in this country. The earliest years of his life
were spent in Western New York, under the parental roof.

152

Noted Living Albanians.

and in attending the district schools in places where his
father officiated as an itinerant preacher. His father, who
was noted for his high Christian character, and his eloquence
and fervency in the pulpit, took the greatest pains to direct
and lead him in the pleasant paths of human and Divine
knowledge. Besides the rudimental instruction he enjoyed
in the common schools and in his father’s house he received
his principal education at the Friendship academy, N. Y.
There young Hammond made an excellent record as a dili-
gent and faithful pupil, earnestly endeavoring to lay the
foundation of a sound, practical, educational superstructure.

Leaving the academy at the age of seventeen, he deemed
it his duty to engage forthwith in some useful occupation that
might at the same time be somewhat remunerative to him in
beginning life’s struggles. Being naturally fond of the science
of telegraphy he, accordingly, sought and obtained a place as
an operator on the western end of the old Erie railroad,
where he was not long in acquiring a thorough knowledge
of a business so congenial to him, and a remarkable energy
in dispatching the work belonging to the office. In this
capacity he continued until the beginning of 1864, when, at
the age of twenty, he enlisted in the army, in the service of
which he remained till the close of the civil conflict. Soon
after his connection with the army his superior qualifica-
tions as a telegraph operator became more widely known,
and the government desiring his services in this line he was
detailed from the ranks and appointed an operator. He
now devoted his whole time with promptitude, alacrity and
success to the duties assigned him. At the close of the war
he returned with renewed energy and enlarged experience
to his telegraphic work on the Erie road at Susquehanna,
Pa. There he remained seven years in constant employ-

Charles D. Hammond.

153

ment, becoming manager of the general office in 1867.
Leaving Susquehanna in 1873 he accepted a position as
train dispatcher on the New York, Oswego and Midland
railroad. He now acquired a still more profound knowledge
of the practical workings of the railroad system and the im-
portant and incessant duties connected with it. This ex-
perience was subsequently to be of great use to him in oc-
cupying wider fields of usefulness in the same direction.

Continuing on the Oswego Midland road about a year and
a half as assistant superintendent, he was appointed in 1874
train dispatcher of the Saratoga division of the Delaware
and Hudson Canal Company’s railroad, with headquarters
in Troy. He held this position until March, 1875, when he
was made superintendent of the Susquehanna railroad divis-
ion, his office being first established at Oneonta and after-
ward removed to Albany. For ten years we now find him
attending to his daily official business with a diligence,
fidelity and success which elicited no little praise among
railroad men as well as the traveling public.

In 1885 Mr. Hammond was chosen superintendent of the
entire Northern department of the district, including the
division previously under his care. This highly responsible
post he has filled for five years with great acceptableness
to the company and much credit to himself. While Albany
is his official residence he has a pleasant private home at
Slingerlands.

Mr. Hammond has always made excellent use of all the
opportunities afforded him in the course of a life now in its
very prime. From a youthful telegraph operator he has
gradually risen to his present ample field of labors by the
cultivation and exhibition of those qualities which distinguish
our most useful and successful citizens — “justice, truth and
20

154

Noted Living Albanians.

probity of mind,” untiring perseverance, rare executive
ability, and a careful watch over public trusts.

Mr. Hammond has also shown a sincere regard for all
matters of a religious, moral and benevolent nature, his in-
fluence being especially felt in the affairs of the large religi-
ous denomination of which — like his venerable father — he is
a working, honored, benevolent member, contributing largely
of his own means toward its success. He is deservedly
held in high estimation by his church and has been frequently
chosen as a representative in its public deliberations. In
1884 he was a delegate to the general M. E. conference in
Philadelphia, and again in i888, to the general conference
in New York city.

He is a trustee and second vice-president of the Round
Lake association, and a trustee of Poultney academy. With
a tall, well-proportioned, impressive figure, a face beaming
with intelligence and benevolence, manners quiet and un-
assuming, a somewhat ministerial bearing — inherited from
his father — he is one who, in all the activities of his life,
rejoices to enlarge the sphere of his benevolence — to
elevate and purify the standards of business, religion and
morality.

In 1866, Mr. Hammond married Miss Eleonora Babcock,
of Friendship, N. Y., daughter of Dr. Brayton Babcock, one
of the most eminent physicians in that part of the state, a
young lady whose acquaintance he made while pursuing his
academical studies at that place. They have no children.

A,,

£1

HAMILTON HARRIS.

DISTINGUISHED citizen of Albany, whose fame as
^ a lawyer, a scholar and a statesman extends far
beyond the limits of his residence, is the Hon. Hamilton
Harris, Born at Preble, Cortland county, N. Y.,on the ist
of May, 1820, he passed his boyhood amidst the beautiful
natural scenery of his native place, engaging in the health-
ful exercises, sports and pastimes of a life in the country.
His father, Frederick Waterman Harris, a native of the
state of New York, but of English origin, was one of the
sterling pioneers of Cortland county. His mother, whose
maiden name was Lucy Hamilton, was of Scottish ancestry
and possessed many of the noble qualities of that race.

The parents of Hamilton Harris had removed from
Charleston, Montgomery county, N. Y., in the year 1808 to
Preble, and setttled on a farm of several hundred acres.
This large farm presented a rich and varied surface of hill
and valley and plain, and was carefully cultivated and im-
proved by the elder Harris. Near the old house yearly
bloomed gardens of flowers, while orchards rich with
autumnal fruits formed a leading attraction of the delightful
spot. Here the happy days of the youth of Hamilton
Harris were spent in laying the foundation of a strong con-
stitution, and in receiving his first lessons in a literary

156

Noted Living Albanians.

course. He first attended the school at Preble, where he
mastered the elementary principles of education and was
soon' prepared for a higher course of study. Accordingly,
he was when ten years of age sent to the Homer academy,
and after a thorough course of instruction there, he con-
tinued his studies under the private tutorship of Michael
Hyland and Dr. Peter Bullions of the Albany academy,
after which, entering Union college at Schenectady, then in
the days of its greatest renown with Dr, Nott at its head,
he graduated with high honors in 1841.

The college curriculum of Mr. Harris is one he can always
look back upon with pleasing, inspiring thoughts. Young,
healthful, vigorous, with a promising future before him, he
then took up his books with a determination to master their
contents. The superstructure of his varied and extensive
knowledge may be said to have been here broadly and
firmly established. When he left the halls of old Union his
classical scholarship especially Avas of a high order, and this
has since been of great utility to him in the formation of a
correct, vigorous, perspicuous and finished diction. His ad-
dress at the commencement, when bidding adieu to the
cherished scenes of his college life, is said to have been re-
markable for its strength and polish, for its comprehensive-
ness and sublimity of thought, and for its admirable delivery.
It received universal commendation from the press, and at
once raised the reputation of the young orator to a high
place among the college graduates of that day. This suc-
cessful exhibition of oratorical power marked the dawn of a
new era in the life of Mr. Harris, and was doubtless one of
the means in directing his attention to a field of study in
which he has since achieved so many brilliant forensic
triumphs. On graduation from college he determined to

Hamilton Harris.

157

enter upon a course of legal study, towards which his earlier
aspirations had been soaring. For him the law had irresist-
ible charms. Under the most favorable auspices he com-
menced his career as a law student. At that time his
brother, the Hon. Ira Harris, a man of eminent legal attain-
ments, was in the zenith of his professional career, and into
his law office Hamilton entered as a law student.

While a student Hamilton Harris’s course was most studi-
ous and laborious. No time was lost by him in acquiring a
thorough and extensive knowledge of his chosen profession
in all its departments, especially in that of constitutional
law, in which he has since risen to eminence. In the
autumn of 1845, Harris was admitted to the bar, and
opening a law office in the city of Albany he soon became a
most successful and accomplished advocate. He possessed
a remarkable self-command in speaking — masculine in his
eloquence, ready in his retorts, strong in his language, in-
cisive in his logic.

In 1848 he formed a law partnership with the Hon.
Hooper C. Van Vorst, afterward a judge of the superior
court of New York city. This continued till 1853, when
Mr. Van Vorst removed to the metropolis. He was next
associated with the Hon. Samuel G. Courtney, who was for
several years United States district attorney for the south-
ern district of New York.

During all these years Mr. Harris was increasing in popu-
larity in his profession, and his legal abilities were becoming
widely known throughout the state. In 1857 he formed a
partnership with Hon. Clark B. Cochrane and Hon. John H.
Reynolds. This firm will long be remembered as one of the
strongest that ever existed in Albany. It did an immense
law business, being retained in many of the most important

158

Noted Living Albanians.

cases, both far and near Ten years after the formation of
this partnership Mr. Cochrane died, but Mr. Harris and Mr.
Reynolds continued their association during a period of
eight years, when the grave closed over the remains of Mr.
Reynolds, a man eminent in his profession and fascinating
in his social qualities. Since Mr. Reynolds’ death, Mr.
Harris has continued the practice of his profession in asso-
ciation with his son Frederick, and with William P. Rudd,
which firm has as extensive a practice as any in the country,
being largely engaged for corporations. Mr. Harris has for
a number of years been employed in the defense of most of
the suits brought against railroad corporations in this county.

In 1853 Mr. Harris was elected district attorney of Albany
county, serving in this capacity till January i, 1857. Here
his legal talents shown forth in great lustre. He was, indeed,
one of the ablest and most fearless district attorneys the
county ever had. He conducted several noted cases with
great learning, adroitness and success, among which was the
argument in the case of People v. Hendrickson^ indicted for
the murder of his wife by poison in 1853. He conducted
on the part of the people the several trials of McCann for
the murder of his wife in 1856; the murder cases of People
V. Phelps, People v. McCrossen, People v. Diinnigan, People v.
Cummings, and defended in the murder case of People v.
Reiman. In many memorable and important civil cases
Mr. Harris has won great distinction throughout the state
by the able manner in which he conducted them, and the
deep legal research and the profound general learning which
he displayed.

In 1884 Mr. Harris argued the case of William McDonald
arraigned at the bar of the senate for refusing to answer
questions before a legislative body ; and he successfully con*

Hamilton Harris.

ducted the case of Judge Westbrook before the senate com-
mittee in 1882.

While carrying on an extensive law practice he early
turned his attention to the field of politics. In the autumn
of 1850 he was elected member of assembly from the county
of Albany. He became on the formation of the republican
party one of its strongest champions. As a member of the
republican state committee from 1862 to 1864, and chair-
man of the republican state committee from 1864 to 1870,
he displayed fine executive abilities in the management of
political affairs, taking a prominent part in often successfully
guiding the republican ship of state over boisterous seas into
the haven of peace and triumph. In a political sense he is a
grand master-builder, whose skill is remarkable, whose plans
are perfect, whose resources are prolific, and whose finished
work commands the admiration of his party.

When the' erection of the new capitol, greatly through
the persistent labors of Mr. Harris, was decided upon by the
legislature of 1865, he was elected president of a new board
of capitol commissioners, and served with marked ability
and untiring diligence until 1875, when he resigned. In the
avitumn of 1875 he was elected to the state senate, and at
once took a leading part in the deliberations of that body.
Re-elected by a large majority in 1877, he won still higher
senatorial honors during his second term, indicating the
possession of true legislative qualities, as a close thinker, a
bold leader, a skillful organizer, and a ready debater. His
championship in the senate of popular and higher education
was appreciated by the friends of education throughout the
state and recognized by the legislature by his election, in
March, 1885, to the office of a regent of the university of
the state of New York.

i6o’ Noted Living Albanians.

Amidst all his arduous and varied efforts as a lawyer and
a politician, Mr. Harris has found time to exhibit his literary
tastes and fine culture on the platform before large and ap-
preciative audiences. Among the most noted of his pub-
lished literary addresses were his admirable lectures on
Politics and Literature,” delivered before the Young Men’s
association of Albany in 1880, and on ‘‘The Tower of Lon-
don,” delivered before the same association in 1878. His
tribute to the memory of John Morrissey in the senate, his
eulogy on Lyman Tremain and his tribute to James A.
Garfield were all expressed in the most appropriate, touch-
ing and beautiful language.

A man of handsome and commanding presence, of sound
physical constitution, and of capacious intellect, he has the
power to sway an audience with his strong, persuasive elo-
quence. As a forensic and political orator, Mr. Harris oc-
cupies a high position in the history of our city, our state
and country. His popularity is well merited. Logical in
argument, brilliant in speech, exhaustive in research, when
stirred to the depths of his heart by the greatness of his
theme, there is a magnetism about his whole manner which
it is difficult to resist. His clear, concise, vigorous sentences
fall like the hammer and chisel of a skilled sculptor on the
rude stone, removing obstructions, smoothing down its
rough surface, and shaping the whole block into a perfect,
admirable statue.

Mr. Harris has a great knowledge of human nature, a
keen perception of character, discernment of motive, and is
sure and rapid in his judgment of individuals, which enables
him in dealing with men to address himself to their feelings,
interests, biases and prepossessions. He is a fluent speaker,
with an easy colloquial manner, and the art of his advocacy

Hamilton Harris.

i6i

is exhibited in clear and simple appeals to the understand-
ing ; in sinking the professional character of the advocate,
elevating the merits of his case, adapting his suggestions
and inferences to the opinions or prejudices of the audience
and speaking very earnestly on points useful to his case with-
out any apparent sophistry, and passing easily over others
that are hurtful to it in a way the best calculated to draw
observation from the difficulties he has to deal with. While
he is really eloquent, he abstains from all attempts at ora-
torical display, and concerns himself little about gesture or
declamation.

Since his comparative retirement from the political field,
Mr. Harris has established one of the largest and most re-
munerative law practices in this city or state. He is now
the leading counsel for the New York Central and Hudson
River Railroad Company, and the Boston and Albany Rail-
road Company, for which companies he has won a large
number of important cases. The uniform success which has
marked his efforts in the conduct of such suits has also
caused his professional services to be sought after by other
railroad companies, so that his legal practice has become
far more attractive to him than the warfare of politics. He
has the reputation in his profession of being cool, wary and
adroit in the trial of cases, and is distinguished by his skill
in cross-examination, and his ability as an advocate.

Mr. Harris’ love of general literature is shown by his
choice private library, which contains all the principal works
of eminent English and American statesmen, orators, poets,
jurists, and scholars, as well as the best writings in almost
every department of human learning. It is one of the most
valuable collections in Albany, an extensive description of
which the author gave some years ago in the New York
21

Noted Living Albanians.

162

Evening Post, and which will form an appropriate conclu-
sion of this memoir.

The Hon. Hamilton Harris has spent many years in
bringing together one of the most useful general collections
of books that any professional or literary man could desire,
numbering about 3,500 volumes. His shelves are not
crowded with a great many exceedingly rare or curious
works in costly binding, but they display a remarkable rich-
ness in contributions to general literature in all its depart-
ments. It is a miscellaneous library particularly suitable to
the tastes and requirements of a man of broad culture
and refined taste in universal learning, who is thoroughly
familar with the knowledge of jurisprudence and the impor-
tant events daily occurring in the arena of political life.
These cherished volumes, full of entertaining and valuable
information, and reflecting the thoughts of the best writers
on subjects not directly connected with the legal profession,
are admirably adapted to enlarge the views and add, to the
accomplishment of any strictly professional man.

There are three departments of literature in the library of
Mr. Harris which are worthy of special notice on account of
their completeness and excellence — those of history, bi-
ography, and statesmanship. In the historical department
stand in graceful and appropriate order the complete works
of the great masters and students of history from the
earliest periods to the present day, embracing among
hundreds of other names those of Herodotus, Thucydides,
Xenophon, Livy, Tacitus, Niehbur, Grote, Arnold, Hume,
Gibbon, Macaulay, Carlyle, Clarendon, Lamartine, Lieber,
Schlegel, Schiller, Neander, Sir James Mackintosh, Hallam,
Guizot, Thiers, Sir James Stephen, Alison, Jesse, Froissart,
Hazlitt, Green, Bancroft, Prescott, Motley and Irving.

Hamilton Harris.

163

In biographical literature the library is the most ample
and complete one in Albany. More than five hundred au-
thors of memoirs of eminent persons here display the fer-
tility of their genius in enriching and illustrating, often with
the charms of graceful and graphic pens, this useful and at-
tractive branch of human learning. Biography has a pecu-
liar charm for Mr. Harris, and he has accordingly made a
specialty in collecting volumes of this nature, embracing the
lives of kings, emperors, presidents, orators, statesmen, his-
torians, poets, novelists, politicians and men of letters,
written by those who have been received as standard au-
thorities on the subjects of which they treat. To mention a
few whose personal, political or literary career has been thus
illustrated we have here the .names of Sir Thomas Moore,
Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Bacon, John Milton, Algernon
Sidney, Oliver Cromwell, John Hampden, Sir John Eliot,
Earl of Clarendon, Lord Bolingbroke, Sir Robert Walpole,
the Earl of Chatham, Edmund Burke, Horace Walpole,
Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, William
Pitt, George Canning, Dr. Samuel Parr, Richard Person,
John Howard, Duke of Buckingham, Lord North, Granville
Sharp, Sir William Jones, Dr. Johnson, Sir James Mackin-
tosh, Oliver Goldsmith, Cardinal Richelieu, Talleyrand,
Metternich, Montaigne, the Napoleons, De Stael, Edward
Gibbon, Goethe, Addison, the Georges, Chateaubriand,
Erasmus, Wilberforce, Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Joshua
Reynolds, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Eldon, Lord Brougham,
Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Denman, Lord Campbell, Sir Samuel
Romilly, Wellington, Frederick the Great, Bismarck, Lord
Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston, Lord Rus-
sell, Lord Jeffery, the Earl of Beaconsfield, Lord Lytton,
Richard Cobden, Garrick, Siddons, Kemble, Kean, Walter

Noted Living Albanians.

Savage Landor, Charles Townshend, Voltaire, Cardinal
Wolsey, Francis Xavier, Fouche, Cavour, John Adams,
John Q. Adams, Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander
Hamilton, John Jay, Aaron Burr, Washington, the Clintons,
Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, William Wirt, William
Pinckney, Gouverneur Morris, Edward Livingston, William
Livingston, Philip Schuyler, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay,
John Randolph, Joseph Story, Rufus Choate and Daniel
Webster, with hosts of others of rank and world-wide renown.

Here may also be found the works of eminent foreign
and American statesmen, orators, jurists and scholars from
Lord Bacon to Edward Everett. These are always pre-
sented in the best editions in excellent bindings, and form a
very important part of the collection. For want of space
we can only mention the following authors, whose complete
works adorn the shelves of this notable library : Lord Bacon,
Burke, Grattan, Bolingbroke, Erskine, Chesterfield, Hallam,
Humboldt, Landor, De Tocqueville, De Quincy, De Stael,
De Lamartine, Darwin, Fielding, John Forster, Scott,
Andrew Fuller, Froissart, Fenelon, Robert Hall, Victor
Hugo, Lamb, Montagu, Massillon, Montaigne, Machiavelli,
Rousseau, Rochefoucauld, Rabelais, Coleridge, Pascal, Mira-
beau, Schlegel, Schiller, Smollett, Sterne, Talfourd, Talley-
rand, Jeremy Taylor, Benjamin Franklin, the Adams, Jef-
ferson, Madison, Fisher, Ames, the Clintons, Webster, Clay,
Sumner, Story, Woodbury, Seward, Emerson, Hawthorne,
Irving and Everett. Mr. Harris, it is well known, is a
great admirer of the writings of Alexander Hamilton, and
has obtained the earliest as well as the latest editions of his
works, the various memoirs of his life, and all the smaller
publications regarding the history and genius of that con-
summate orator, statesman and financier.

Hamilton Harris.

165

Of illustrated volumes Mr. Harris has a very choice col-
lection, embracing principally those on architecture, the
towers, castles, abbeys, and famous public buildings of
Europe. Of this class he has splendid copies of Roberts’

Holy Land,” from drawings made on the spot by David
Roberts, R. A., with historical descriptions by William Bro-
chedon, F. R. S., illustrated by Louis Haghe, two volumes
imperial folio, full morocco, gilt edges, London, 1842;
“ Egypt and Nubia,” by the same author, in the same size
and style, two volumes, London, 1846. Also, Racinet’s “ Les
Costumes Historiques,’’ published by Firmin, Didot & Cie.;
in four volumes folio.

The law library of Mr. Harris contains about 3,000 vol-
umes selected with particular regard to the every-day wants
of the lawyer. He has many books illustrative of the litera-
ture of the law; and his collection of books and pamphlets
on celebrated trials, both in England and America, is one of
the most remarkable and complete that can be found in the
state. In fact, it may truly be said, there is scarcely a trial
of any note that has taken place in this country or in
Europe but what a report of it may be found in this library.

' Mr. Harris has prepared a complete alphabetical cata-
logue of his volumes, which appear to have been selected
with a view to practical utility, without special regard to the
costliness of the binding.

Mr. Harris must heartily indorse the sentiments of the
celebrated John Mitchell Mason, D. D., of New York — a
great lover of books — in his defining what a library is — “ It
is an army — the books are my soldiers. I am the centu-
rion. I call them down and make them fight for me.”

DAVID BENNETT HILL.

PROMINENT figure in our political annals is David
^ B. Hill, governor of the state of New York. His
ancestors were of New England origin, and he was born in
the beautiful and romantic village of Havana, Schuyler, then
Chemung county, N. Y., on the 29th of August, 1843. His
father, Caleb Hill, was a native of Windham county. Conn.,
but while a young man, removed to Havana, where he car-
ried on the business of a carpenter and joiner. His mother’s
maiden name was Eunice Durfey. She was a woman richly
endowed with the gifts and graces of a true life. Both
parents were strongly devoted to the welfare of their chil-
dren and strove hard, with their very limited pecuniary
means, to give them a good common-school education.
These intelligent, industrious and affectionate parents, so
pleasant in their lives, were not long divided in their death
— Mrs. Hill died in Elmira, August, 1882, and Mr. Hill —
after living to see his son elected lieutenant-governor of the
empire state — followed her to the grave in December of
the same year.

David, the youngest son, and the subject of this sketch,
was naturally fond of books and made an excellent use of
the limited educational advantages afforded him by his par-
ents. At the Havana academy, beautifully located in the

David B. Hill.

167

open fields a short distance from the village, the young
student spent several years deeply interested in his studies
and laying the foundation of a good education. On leav-
ing the academy at the age of seventeen, he cheerfully un-
dertook the task, on a small scale, of earning his own living.
H e was first employed as a clerk in a leading law office in
Havana, where his youthful genius, his ambition to rise
higher in mental attainments and his faithfulness and fidelity
attracted the notice of several prominent persons who saw
in him evidences of a bright future. One of these friendly
observers was Colonel John I. Lawrence, a cousin of Judge
Abraham Lawrence of New York city, who earnestly advised
him to continue the study of the law. It was a wise coun-
sel, and was speedily followed by young Hill, whose natural
inclinations and ambitions were wholly in this direction, and
to whom the legal profession was invested with peculiar
charms. He accordingly went to Elmira early in 1863,
and entered the law office of Erastus P. Hart, an accom-
plished lawyer of that city. And there Mr. Hill prosecuted
his legal studies with such unremitting diligence and success
that he was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1864.
With his characteristic energy, enterprise and self-reliance
he lost np time in opening a law office in the city of Elmira,
his newly-adopted home. His success was soon assured ; he
was appointed city attorney of Elmira ; and during the first
year of his residence there, his legal practice was crowned
with several brilliant triumphs, and he won for himself a
leading position in the bar of the southern tier. His popu-
larity continuing to, increase, he speedily acquired an exten-
sive legal practice, not only in Elmira, but also in the sur-
rounding country. His fine legal talents, cultivated by
close application to study, were admirably displayed in

Noted Living Albanians.

1 68

many an interesting and important case. His legal efforts
on such occasions were powerful — in language terse, in logic
incisive, and in argument convincing.

But the activities of Mr. Hill’s legal profession were soon,
in a large measure, to be exchanged for those of politics.
For him the stirring arena of political life presented still
stronger attractions ; and entering this field of conflict as an
ardent young democrat, he found a most congenial occupa-
tion for his active nature. In 1871, and again in 1872, he
was elected a member of the assembly from Chemung
county. In the deliberations of that body his versatile
genius and forcible declamation were fully displayed, and he
stepped to the front rank as a parliamentarian. True to his
party organization he always advocated with great force and
earnestness democracy. As a member of the democratic
party he even then had few equals as a tactician in effecting
its success.

In the legislature of 1872-3 he was frequently chairman of
the committee of the whole. He strongly opposed the
system which made penal labor a victor over the interests
of honest industry in the empire state ; and he also suc-
ceeded in having a bill passed by the assembly forbidding
the system, but the bill was defeated in the senate. In 1877
and in 1881 he was president of the democratic state con-
vention, the duties of which he performed with marked
ability and success. In 1881, as an evidence of his growing
popularity at home, he was elected alderman in the strongest
republican ward in Elmira. And in the spring of 1882 he
was chosen mayor of the city by a large majority. In 1882,
Mr. Hill was nominated for lieutenant-governor of the state
on the ticket headed by Grover Cleveland. The majorit}'
by which this ticket was elected was unprecedented in the

David B. Hill.

annals of politics, Cleveland’s plurality being 192,854, and
Hill’s 196,781. He presided with great ability, dignity and
impartiality over the senate, the majority of which was
republican.

When Grover Cleveland was inaugurated president of the
United States Mr. Hill succeeded him as governor of the
state of New York. He discharged the duties of this office
with such general acceptability to his party that he was
nominated for governor by the democratic state convention,
which met in September, 1885. After a memorable and
exciting contest, he was elected over Ira Davenport, the
republican candidate, by a plurality of 11,134.

In the autumn of 1888, Governor Hill was renominated
for governor, his opponent being the Hon. Warner Miller.
Every inch of ground was hotly contested for in that cam-
paign, both candidates delivering public addresses night and
day through the state in advocacy of the special claims of
their party. The result was the reelection of Governor
Hill by a plurality of 19,171, while President Harrison car-
ried the state by 14,373.

While striving to administer the affairs of the state gov-
ernment on strictly democratic principles, Governor Hill
has delivered several addresses set forth in strong, vigorous
language, and containing passages of more than ordinary
eloquence. One of these was on the occasion of the cen-
tennial banquet at the Metropolitan opera house, New
York, on the 30th of April, 1889, commemorative of the in-
auguration of George Washington as the first president of
the United States and the establishment of the constitution
of our country. In delivering the address of welcome Gov-
ernor Hill happily said: “ As the governor of the state,

within whose borders were heard the acclaims which greeted
22

Noted Living Albanians.

the first president’s oath of allegiance to the constitution, I
extend a welcome to all here assembled. Welcome to you,
President Harrison, latest of the line of those distinguished
men who have given the same guarantee of obedience to
the charter of our liberties and faithfulness to the rights of
the people. Welcome to your honored cabinet, and to
those chosen representatives of all the sister states, whose
presence here speaks anew the grandeur and greatness of
our United States. Welcome to all in authority — legis-
lative, executive or judicial, civil and military — who, in
their station, with honor and justice, are daily serving our
common country. Welcome to all the ambassadors of
other nations who participate with us in these festivities.
Welcome, strong and brave men, sons of fathers who yielded
life, who sacrificed fortune, who endured severest privation,
that we might rejoice in liberty. Welcome, fair and true
women, daughters of mothers who gave patriotic encourage-
ment in days of darkest distress ; who willingly devoted
themselves to suffering that the infant republic might be
sustained. Welcome those from whatever clime who have
become part of our people, and who have contributed their
share in miaintaining the purposes and increasing the glory
of our commonwealth. Welcome to all — citizens —
strangers — friends.

“ Our display upon the ample waters of this harbor ; our
parades in the broad streets of this city; our rejoicings in
this banqueting hall, commemorate not only the fame of a
great prince among men ; not only the victories of a great
captain among warriors ; not only the deeds of a great
statesman among patriots. These exultant sights and
triumphant sounds commemorate such fame and victories
and deeds, but they commemorate far more. They com-

David B. Hill.

T71

memorate the nativity of a heaven-born republic among the
nations of the earth. They commemorate not a govern-
ment founded on a Magna Charta extorted from a King
John by a compelling band of nobles, not a government
founded upon a written freedom bestowed by an emperor
on an emancipated race of slaves, but a new and complete
creation of government, resting strong and secure upon
foundations that shall last as long as virtue, honor and
courage live among our people ; a government of the people,
by the people, and for the people, which shall not perish
from the earth.

-X- ^ * -X- -X- ^

“ What visions of future greatness and prosperity for this
broad land of ours open up before us as we contemplate the
growth of our free institutions, since they were founded by
the patriots of a century ago. Generations yet unborn will
share the glories and blessings of the beneficent and imperish-
able government transmitted to us and them by our revolu-
tionary sires.

What glorious memories cluster around this centennial
day :

‘ Day of a hundred days.

Day of a hundred years,

One cry of welcome all our voices raise
As the young century appears.

Hail greatness yet to come,

Hail millions yet to be.’

‘‘ The heroes of the American revolution are now de-
parted. That age of pre-eminent creative genius has passed
away. But the country which their valor, statesmanship
and patriotism saved and established still proudly exists,
enjoying the blessing of civil and religious liberty, augment-
ing in population, increasing in resources, strengthening in
power.

i;2

Noted Living Albanians.

“ It is a prosperous, happy, indivisible union. Its con-
tented people are reaping the advantages of laws made by
themselves, well and honestly administered.

The sentiments of every true American are expressed in
the hope that faction may not destroy, that pride may not
injure, that corruption may not undermine, and that sec-
tionalism may not divide this fair republic ; but that its bord-
ers may still further be extended, its commerce may float
upon every sea, the stars upon its flag may be trebled, its
free institutions may live on and flourish, and its liberty-
loving people may continue to work out the problem of self-
government so long as freedom itself exists, and until time
shall be no more.

‘Keep, God, the fairest, noblest land that lies beneath the sun —

Our country, our whole country, and our country ever one.’”

In the administration of public affairs Governor Hill seems
to be actuated by a fine sense of equity, and a just regard
for the welfare and prosperity of the masses of the people.
Himself a self-made man, he is a true friend of the laboring
class, whose just claims he seeks to advance by every lauda-
ble means. He is a hater of oppression in every form, and
a lover of liberty, justice and humanity at home and abroad.

His political career has been one of steady and successful
advancement during a period of twenty years.

Possessing abilities of a high order, a lawyer of great
reputation ; a parliamentarian of inexhaustible resources ;
a ready and accomplished orator and statesman, David B.
Hill stands before the country as a distinguished leader and
expounder of the true Jeffersonian principles of democracy,
and as an able advocate of good government.

GALEN R. HITT.

IN THE ranks of the younger democratic Albanians no
man has risen more rapidly in the estimation of his
party during the past few years than the subject of our
sketch, Hon. Galen R. Hitt. He belongs to the sturdy'
race of New Englanders, and was born on the i6th of
August, 1843, Pawlet, Vt. There he passed his child-
hood days attending the district schools of his native
place, playing on the green fields of his father’s farm, in-
haling the pure, invigorating air of that delightful, healthful
region of country, growing up a vigorous youth, with
strong love for sports and pastimes, and evincing at the
same time a disposition to become an educated man.

In 1859, after receiving a good common-school education,
he entered the Troy Conference academy at Poultney, Vt.,
where he remained four years, making commendable pro-
gress in his studies and taking a special interest and pride
in declamation. Apt in learning, he always stood high in
his class, and left the academy with an honorable record.

Having decided to enter upon the law as a life-long pro-
fession, he accordingly began his legal studies at Rutland,
Vt., and finished them in Albany, where he was admitted
to the bar by the general term in the spring of 1865, In
the fall of the same year he married Miss Sarah J. Crowley,

174

Noted Living Albanians.

a daughter of the late Hon. John Crowley, of Mount Holly,
Vt. Then taking up his residence in this city he was not
long in showing his ability as a lawyer and in building up
quite a large practice, especially in criminal cases, in which
he has always been remarkably successful. By his boldness,
tenacity, unyielding interest and eloquent pleas in behalf of
his clients, he has won for them many difficult and almost
hopeless cases, thereby gaining much reputation as an able
and successful counselor.

In 1874 Mr. Hitt helped to organize the Albany Boat-
men’s Relief association, of which he was for six years a
director and for four years attorney. He joined the famous
old Burgesses corps in 1877 has acted as its president
and vice-president, and is still a member.

In his political career, which we would briefly trace, Mr.
Hitt has already won an enviable reputation. From the
first he became an earnest and steady worker in the political
field, throwing all his energies into the cause of the demo-
cratic party, of which he has long been “ a shining light.”
There is nothing unstable about his political professions.
He has always been outspoken, firm, unyielding in his con-
victions— following in the footsteps of the faithful in the
leadership of his party amidst its sunshine of prosperity and
its storms of adversity. As a leader in politics, his own
abilities were soon recognized by his friends, and in the
spring of 1884 he was elected an alderman from the sixth
ward. And again in the spring of 1888 he was chosen alder-
man-at-large, and served four years in the common council,
of which he was a useful, industrious and influential member.

Mr. Hitt has entered heartily into all projects having for
their aim the material improvement, advancement and
adornment of his adopted city. In the bi-centennial cele-

Galen R. Hitt.

bration in Albany he acted a conspicuous part as chairman
of the common council committee on the celebration ; and
devoted much time and labor in helping to make the memo-
rial occasion a grand success. In the winter of 1888 he
was the first to start the carnival, which was a source of so
much amusement and. delight to crowds of spectators. And
among other more useful things he has been deeply inter-
ested in the movement in favor of furnishing the city of
Albany with pure water.

But more honors of a political nature came to grace the
brow of Mr. Hitt. In the autumn of 1888 he was elected
to the assembly by a plurality of 1,209 over James D. Walsh,
republican, and C. L. Van Allen, prohibitionist. It was in
the legislature that his talents soon won him recognition,
and caused him to be widely known and respected through
the state as a fearless debater. He served on the standing
committees on the affairs of cities and on state prisons, as
well as on several special committees, the most important of
which was the conference committee on the annual appro-
priation.

Mr. Hitt went to work with a determination faithfully to
serve his constituents in matters of general interest and im-
provements. He introduced into the assembly the bill for
repaving State street, so long in a wretched condition, and
advocated the measure with a force, fidelity and eloquence
truly admirable, not relaxing his efforts in its behalf until
it became a law and its provisions accomplished. And to
his worthy, earnest efforts the citizens of Albany are in-
debted for the smooth, excellent, substantial repavement of
State street — now one of the grandest avenues to be found
in any city, and which must long continue to be the boast of
our citizens and to be admired by visitors.

176

Noted Living Albanians.

By this act alone Mr. Hitt’s popularity was greatly in-
creased, especially among his progressive fellow-citizens, ir-
respective of party, and when the democratic assembly con-
vention met on the i8th of October, 1889, attention was
turned to him as the proper man, and the strongest candi-
date for member of assembly from the third district, and he
was accordingly renominated by acclamation. His success
from the first seemed to be fully assured, and on the 5th of
November he was elected over George E. Latham, the re-
publican nominee, by the splendid majority of 2,534 —
the largest ever given for any candidate in that district.

In the last legislature, Mr. Hitt served, with distinction,
on the following committees : “ Affairs of cities,” “ rail-

roads,” and “ public lands and forestry,” and in the con-
test on the world’s fair bill he led on the democratic side,
and in the discussion of many important measures, he added
new laurels to his well-established reputation as one of the
most brilliant members of the house. Among the bills in-
troduced by him now on the statute books of the state, are
reappropriating money for an armory at Cohoes; amend-
ing the penal code in regard to electric railroads ; relative
to collection of taxes in Albany ; incorporating the Cathe-
dral of All Saints ; relative to the Corning foundation fund ;
to enable the trustees of the sinking fund to take up bonds ;
revising the revised statutes, section 3, article i, chapter 4 ;
amending the act relative to government of the city of Al-
bany ; providing for printing copies of the Gen. Sheridan
memorial ; creating a board of medical examiners for the
state; relating to the government of Albany ; regarding the
property of street surface railroads ; to confirm bonds of the
city of Albany for street improvements ; allowing the Broad-
way horse car line to cross into Troy.

Galen R. Hitt.

177

As a polished and effective speaker, Mr. Hitt deserves
more than a passing notice. He was one of the most elo-
quent debaters on the floor of the assembly, and whenever
he rose to speak he was listened to with undivided attention
and interest. His presence is impressive ; his voice is one
of considerable compass and power ; his delivery is animated,
and his words are well chosen and often incisive. One of
the most effective elements in his declamation is his earnest-
ness of manner, a throwing of his whole feelings into the
subject under consideration, and the manifest evidence of a
determination to carry conviction to the minds of his hearers
by a bold, irresistible oratorical display. Ready and quick
in repartee, he is a hard man to discompose or intimidate
by any opponent on any subject whatever.

With every promise of continued oratorical success and
even more widely extended-influence he completed his sec-
ond assembly term as a faithful exponent of the principles
of his party and with an eye ever watchful over the best in-
terests of Albany.

On the 4th of October, 1890, Mr. Hitt was renominated,
by acclamation, as the democratic candidate for a third term
in the legislature. Speaking of his nomination, the Albany
Ar^us sdiid: “Mr. Hitt served with conspicuous ability in
the assembly of 1889 and 1890, and his renomination for
another term is a deserved recognition of his great useful-
ness to this city and its interests in the legislature.

“ A year ago Mr. Hitt carried the third district by the
magnificent majority of 2,500. * * * Mr. Hitt’s record

in the assembly for the last two years is made up of success-
ful advocacy and enactment of scores of measures of im-
portance to the city and county, coupled with a leading
part in. the general legislation of the sessions.”

178

Noted Living Albanians.

And the Albany Evening Times of the same date con-
tained the following : ‘‘ Mr. Hitt has made his mark in legis-
lative circles. There was not a member of the legislature
of 1890 who did not know, honor and respect him. He
was not merely the leader of the Albany county delegation ;
he was recognized as an able second to the leader of the
minority on the floor. He is a fearless and able debater.
He can instantly command the attention of the house, and
is always listened to with pleasure and profit.”

GEORGE ROGERS HOWELL.

Among those Albanians who have devoted their time
and talents more exclusively to the pursuits of sci-
entific, linguistic and literary research — a man who ranks
high among American scholars, is Mr. George R. Howell of
the state library.

Born in the town of Southampton, Long Island, on the
15th of June, 1833, he passed his boyhood in that interesting
locality. The first American ancestor of this name was
Edward Howell, of Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, Eng-
land, who came with his family to Boston in 1639, and soon
after removed to Southampton as one of the earliest set-
tlers of the place. The old stone manor house of Edward
Howell is still standing at Marsh Gibbon, and is still in-
habited as a residence. We may remark here that South-
ampton, Long Island, was the first town settled by the Eng-
lish in the state of New York. The parents of Professor
Howell were Charles and Mary Rogers Howell, highly
respected citizens of Southampton.

Young Howell first attended the district school and then
the academy at Southampton. He very early manifested
his love for books and a strong desire to gain a knowledge
of various languages which he acquired with remarkable
facility. After due preparation at the academy he entered

i8o

Noted Living Albanians.

the sophomore class in Yale college in 1851, at the age of
eighteen. In this excellent and renowned institution, then
under the presidency of Theodore D. Woolsey, D. D., as-
sisted by such professors as Silliman, Olmsted and Hadley,
he had every facility for making a rapid progress in the wide
fields of learning. But the natural sciences and the languages
always enjoyed the first place in his heart, and when the
years of his college life were closed, his proficiency in these
studies was far greater than ordinary.

In 1854 he graduated at Yale with honor, and stepped
out into the busy world with the proud consciousness of
having been a faithful student, and with a laudable ambition
of making his mark in literary circles. Turning his collegiate
education to some practical use, he now spent several years
in teaching in academies, while at the same time he con-
tinued in private those studies which were more congenial
to him. With his favorite books in hand, the fireside at
home was invested to him with quite as much interest as
the stirring public scenes of a college life. While he laid
the foundation of his learning at old Yale, he afterward
continued, as all successful teachers and scholars have done,
to build upon that foundation, elevating, strengthening,
polishing the superstructure till the whole fabric should be
crowned with intellectual glory and stability. In the spring
of 1861 Mr. Howell decided upon studying for the ministry,
and accordingly, in September of that year, he entered Prince-
ton Theological seminary, from which venerable institution
he was graduated in 1864. For about two years he was en-
gaged in ministerial work in western New York. An inci-
dent now occurred which turned his attention in the direc-
tion of a more purely literary line. The two hundred and
twenty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of Southampton

George R. Howell.

was to be celebrated in 1865, and from the high scholarly
reputation that Mr. Howell had already gained he was in-
vited by his townsmen to deliver the address on that oc-
casion at his native place. He consented, and in a most
interesting effort, which required no little labor to prepare,
he gave, before an interested and delighted audience, a glow-
ing history of Southampton and its noble pioneers. It was
so well received that in the following year, at the request of
the citizens of the town, it was greatly enlarged and printed
under the title of “The Early History of Southampton,
Long Island, with Genealogies, N. Y. 1866.” A second edi-
tion of this valuable local history was published at Albany
in 1887, making an octavo volume of 473 pages. A work of
great research, it fully displays the patient, industrious
habits of Mr. Howell and reflects no little credit upon his
literary taste.

In 1865, on the recommendation of Dr. Macauley, secre-
tary of one of the Presbyterian boards at Philadelphia,, he
was offered a professorship of Latin or Greek at his option,
in a prosperous college in Iowa. His engagements at the
time forbade his accepting this offer, and as a further induce-
ment to obtain the aid of his scholarship in the west, the
presidency of the same college was then offered. But this,
too, he was obliged to decline for the same reason. The
nature of the future life work of Mr. Howell seems now to
have been clearly indicated, and he appeared to have
been unexpectedly led into a position congenial to a scholar,
which he has since illustrated with commendable ability and
rare devotion. In 1872, at the suggestion of Dr. S. B.
Woolworth, he was engaged, on account of his linguistic
attainments, to take an office in the state library as assistant
librarian,- with a view of qualifying himself thoroughly as a

1 82 Noted Living Albanians.

successor to Dr. Homes. The state library is an excellent
school for the complete development of the qualities of a
first-class librarian. And for sixteen years Mr. Howell has
devoted himself with unremitting energy at his post in
making himself familiar with the rich treasures of this
library, and with its wants and best modes of administration,
until he has acquired what comparatively few men possess,
a most intimate and general knowledge of books in all de-
partments. Here his earlier study of different languages has
been of great utility to him in the classification, catalogu-
ing and arrangement of the ninety-six thousand volumes in
the general library. His suggestions with regard to the
purchase of suitable or desirable volumes have also been
useful in the development of its resources.

During the long period of Dr. Homes’ confinement to his
house by sickness. Professor Howell was obliged to perform
the duties of both assistant and general librarian ; and since
the death of Dr. Homes, in November, 1887, he has been
the acting librarian of the general library, the duties of
which he has most successfully performed.

For more than three years Professor Howell has been the
secretary of the Albany institute, in the welfare of which
he has taken a deep interest. He has read several able
papers on scientific subjects before the institute, some of
which have been published in the ‘‘Transactions of the Al-
bany Institute,” including “Linguistic Discussions,” “ The
Open Polar Sea,” and “ Heraldry in America.” His wide
knowledge of existing works of local history and genealogy
as well as his general literary and scientific attainments make
him especially useful to the readers of the library.

Now in the full vigor of manhood, and with long and
varied experience in the pleasing walks of science and litera-

George R. Howell.

183

ture, he is still following the “ even tenor of his way ” in his
chosen profession, whose charms for him are far greater than
merely worldly greatness or political power

On the i8th of August, 1868, Professor Howell married
Miss Mary Catherine Seymour, a daughter of Norman and
Frances Hale (Metcalf) Seymour of Mount Morris, Living-
ston county, N. Y. He has one son, Seymour Howell,
who in the September of 1888, entered the Freshman class
of Harvard university.

JAMES WESLEY HUTT.

ONE OF the most thorough-going and competent men
in the express business is James W. Hutt, general
superintendent of the National Express Company, whose
head-quarters are in Albany. He belongs to a substantial
old family of Schoharie county, N. Y., of Holland-Dutch
origin, who early came to this region and took an active
part in the civilization and progress of the country and
afterward in defending their homes in the attacks of British
and savage foes. Those old pioneers were men of the sim-
plest habits, loyal in their attachment to the principles of
civil and ecclesiastical liberty and earnest in their endeavor
to cultivate the virgin soil and to turn the wilderness into
fruitful fields.

The great-grandfather of the present Mr. Hutt was John
Hutt, one of those revolutionary patriots who was actively
engaged in the border warfare of Schoharie county. In 1776
we find him enlisting as a private in the Fifteenth regiment,
first company, of the united districts of Schoharie and
Duanesburg. He served in the lower fort under Captain
Stutroch at the time of Johnson and Brandt’s invasion.
And among other instances of his valor in 1782, we see him
displaying heroic courage in the defense of the house of
M^jor Becker when it was surrounded by a party of

James W. Hutt.

185

Indians under Captain Crysler. He was near the house
when the alarm was sounded by the terrified women and
children that a force of Indians was rushing toward the
dwelling. Immediately a large Indian sprang forward to
seize Mr. Hutt, but the dauntless soldier raised a whiffletree
which he held in his hand, defiantly in the face of the In-
dian, who at once recoiled. Mr. Hutt then sprang into the
door which Mrs. Becker was holding open for him. The
brave woman then quickly shut and bolted the door while
Mr. Hutt seized an old musket and was ready for the
encounter. In the dwelling were only three men. Major
Becker, Mr. Hutt, and George Shell, another Schoharie sol-
dier, who fortunately happened to be present. Besides
these inmates were Mrs. Becker, Mrs. Adam Zimmer, pos-
sibly one or two other women and some eight or ten chil-
dren, who went up-stairs to escape, if possible, from the
tomahawk and scalping-knife. Then began a desperate
struggle for life against fearful odds. The attack and de-
fense are thus vividly described by Mr. Simms in his Fron-
tiersmen of New York: “ The major took his station at the
south-west corner window, which commanded the enemy’s
approach to his barn ; assigned to Hutt the eastern gable
windows, and to Shell the north-west window opposite his
own, which commanded their approach to the mill, which
stood a few rods from the house upon grounds occupied by
the race-way of the present mill. The lower sash of the up-
per windows was also secured by planks. The enemy im-
mediately ran around the eastern end of the house and
there gained temporary shelter, some under the creek bank,
some behind a fence, and others behind a small log building
standing at a little distance south-east of the house, used as a
store-room. The enemy fired numerous balls in at the
24

Noted Living Albanians.

1 86

windows, twenty-eight entering the window Hutt was sta-
tioned at. He was bold and vigilant, and often incurred
the censure of Major Becker for exposing his person so
much about the window, telling him that the force of the
enemy was unknown, but their own was three men, the loss
of one being one-third of their strength. Hutt, however,
could not be restrained by the prudent counsel of the major,
and kept constantly returning the shots of the enemy. Dis-
covering through the cranny of the log building the hat of
one of his foes, Hutt sent a bullet through the brim of it
close to the crown. This hat, it was afterward ascertained,
was on the head of Captain Crysler. The balls of the en-
emy cut the air around the head of Hutt, but fortunately
without injury.” This fight lasted a few hours, and after mak-
ing several attempts to burn the house the assailants, twenty-
three in number, left for the forests, while the inmates es-
caped from a horrible death. This most remarkable and
successful defense of life and property by John Hutt and
his companions was long after related with thrilling interest
by the firesides of old Schoharie. He died in 1825.

His son John, grandfather of the present Mr. Hutt,
was prominently identified with the manufacturing and busi-
ness interests of Schoharie county. He died in Iowa in 1852.

His son William, the father of James W. Hutt, was born
at Sharon in 1810. He was during his entire life promi-
nently identified with the interests of old Schoharie county.

Previous to the organization of the National Guard he
was a lieutenant in the Ninth regiment. Third brigade.
First division cavalry of the state of New York, from which
he was, at his own request, honorably discharged in 1835.

William Hutt was one of the pioneer expressmen and was
connected with its interests up to the time of his death in 1889.

James W. Hutt.

187

James W. Hutt, the subject of this sketch was born on
the i6th of August, 1846, at Sharon Springs, Schoharie
county, N. Y., both of his parents being natives of that
place. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary E. Sharp,
is still living in the old homestead. There, their son James
passed his childhood and youth, and when of suitable age,
was sent to the district school of his native place. He after-
ward became a pupil in the Waverville academy, where
he spent several terms in acquiring a good education in the
elementary branches, such as were most suitable for a young
man contemplating a practical business career. On leaving
the academy young Hutt was naturally inclined to become
an expressman like his father, and uncle, who was a pioneer
expressman and stage proprietor on the Pacific coast. Ac-
cordingly, in 1862, at the age of sixteen he went to Schenec-
tady and began such a course of life in the American Ex-
press Company in that city — an occupation which he has
never since relinquished. He remained two years in
Schenectady, devoting himself with faithfulness, energy
and success to the various duties daily devolving upon him.
In 1864 he went to New York city where he continued
about seven years, gaining an experience, amidst the busy,
stirring scenes of the metropolis, which has been of great
advantage to him in later years. There he learned the
nature and requirements of his calling and became perfectly
familiar with all its details. He was also engaged for some
time on the reportorial staff of the New York Times.

His capability and efficiency in the performance of his
duty were to be subsequently rewarded by well-merited

promotions. In the fall of 1870, at the request of

Hon. Joseph H. Ramsey he came to Albany and ac-

cepted the position of superintendent of the express

Noted Living Albanians.

department of the old Susquehanna railroad, of which
Mr. Ramsey was then president. Two years later he
became connected with the National Express Company as
superintendent. In 1883 he was appointed general super-
intendent of the same company, having in charge its entire
lines, a position which he still holds, discharging its duties
with much credit to himself and no little advantage to the
company. He is also vice-president of the Adirondack
Express Company, which is now doing a large business, es-
pecially in northern New York. He is one of the eight
members of the Joint Traffic committee, a very useful or-
ganization which represents the express companies of the
United States, and acts in concert for their common interests.

Mr. Hutt is a great admirer of the beauty and grandeur
of the Adirondack region, and has taken a deep interest in
making it still more easily accessible to the summer tourist.
In 1889 he was elected president of the Adirondack Stage
Company, whose route extends from North Creek, at the
terminus of the Adirondack railroad, to Blue Mountain
lake, a distance of twenty-nine miles, reaching the heart of
the Adirondacks. The drive over this line in one of the
Tally-Ho coaches is one of the most interesting and romantic
of any in that healthful, inspiring region.

On attaining his majority Mr. Hutt united himself with
the democratic party, to whose success he has ever since
been faithfully devoted, without a desire of securing for him-
self any political emoluments.

He is a member of the Boston Light Infantry Veteran
Corps, the Odd Fellows society, the Fort Orange club, the
Albany club, a trustee and member of the executive com-
mittee of the Round Lake association, and a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church at Slingerlands, where he resides.

James W. Hutt.

189

In 1869 he married Emma L. De Noyelles of Schoharie,
and has a family of four children, one boy, James W., Jr., and
three girls, Emma, Edith and Dorothy.

In his personal appearance Mr Hutt is of the ordinary
height, with a rather broad physique, a sound vigorous con-
stitution, which shows a careful physical training in youth.
H e is of a cheerful, hopeful disposition, an agreeable com-
panion, cordial and gentlemanly in his manners. He is very
methodical in his work, and possesses a grasp of mind which
is capable of accomplishing with comparative ease and ac-
curacy the numberless and often perplexing details in his
daily official business. Calmness, energy and perseverance-
are marked traits in his character. Admirably fitted by
natural tastes and long training for his special life-long
calling, no official of our express companies more worthily
or efficiently fills the office ; and his highest aim has always
been to serve with the best of his ability the interests of the
public in his chosen field of operation.

JAMES BARCLAY JERMAIN.

A VENERABLE Albanian, whose name will be cher-
ished by thousands of his fellow-citizens as a noble
philanthropist, long after he shall have passed from the scenes
and activities of earth, is James Barclay Jermain. His
career as a benefactor to his race affords a happy illustration
of what is true, spiritual and beautiful in Christianity. Fa-
vored with large pecuniary means he has not been slow to use
money liberally in such ways as he believes to be effective
in accomplishing the greatest amount of good to the larg-
est number of individuals in elevating them socially, intel-
lectually and morally.

He was born in the city of Albany, N. Y., on the 13th of
August, 1809. His father, Silvanus P. Jermain, was a na-
tive of Sag Harbor, Long Island; but in 1802, removed to
Albany, where he became successful in mercantile business,
and accumulated a large property. He was, moreover, a
man highly esteemed and respected for his many sterling
qualities. The mother of James Barclay Jermain was
Catharine Barclay, a pious and excellent lady, daughter of
James and Janet Elizabeth Barclay, natives of Scotland.
They emigrated to this country at an early day, and made
Albany their permanent home. Losing his mother when he
was but seven years of age, young Jermain was placed in

/fo jrj- r,, Cc. // K

James B. Jermain.

191

the family of his uncle, the Rev. Nathaniel S. Prime, D. D.,
a distinguished Presbyterian minister of Cambridge, Wash-
ington county, N. Y., and for some time principal of the
flourishing academy there. Dr. Prime was the father of the
late S. Irenaeus Prime, D. D., of the New York Observer y
and grandfather of the Rev. Wendell Prime, one of the
present editors of that old-established and most excel-
lent paper.

Under such favorable circumstances, young Jermain re-
ceived the best Christian instruction, and was, at the same
time, carefully prepared for college. In 1824, at the age of
fifteen, he entered Middlebury college, Vt., where he re-
mained two years diligently pursuing his studies. Entering
the junior class of Amherst College in 1829, he graduated
from that institution two years later. He then commenced
the study of the law, and in 1836 was admitted to practice in
the supreme court of the state. Without engaging in the
general practice of his profession, the most of his time was
occupied in managing the extensive business interests of his
father, then in his declining years. Those financial affairs
which were intrusted to him by his confiding parent, he man-
aged with discretion, showing, at the same time, a rare busi-
ness tact which has since been so successfully cultivated and so
fully developed.

A large fortune came into the possession of Mr. Jermain
on the death of his father in 1869. Cherishing the memory
of his deceased parent and honoring the cause of practical
Christianity, he erected entirely at his own expense, in 1876,
a beautiful church in the village of West Troy. The edifice
cost over $120,000, and is known as the Jermain Memorial
church. It is now under the care of the Presbyterian
church, and the Rev. Walter Laidlaw is its present pastor.

192

Noted Living Albanians.

With his wealth, Mr. Jermairi has, in various ways, con-
tributed largely to the advancement of the temporal and
spiritual welfare of his fellow men — setting a noble exam-
ple of lofty, Christian philanthropy. Some years ago he
rebuilt at great cost the Home for Aged Men on the Albany
and Troy road. Of this excellent institution he is now the
president-emeritus, and always takes a deep interest in pro-
moting its prosperity. This is one of the worthiest causes in
which any philanthropist could become engaged with the
certainty of the most benevolent results — the providing for
the closing years of old, infirm men of character, who, by
adverse circumstances, have lost their worldly means, or
the friends who might have aided them in their support.

In 1883 Mr. Jermain endowed a $50,000 professorship in
Williams college, the alma inater of his son Barclay Jer-
main and to his memory.

Still studying how to accomplish the most good for the
spiritual, moral and physical elevation of his fellow-citizens,
he recently made a magnificent gift, now amounting to over
$80,000 for the erection of a Young Men’s Christian associ-
ation building in the city of Albany. This handsome struct-
ure is built of brick and stone in a fine style of architecture,
and includes a large public hall, a small lecture-room, a gym-
nasium 48x64 feet and 21 feet high, numerous baths, etc.
The whole building is furnished in a most appropriate and
substantial manner at a cost of over $5,000. Over the
mantle of the fireplace in the main parlor is an excellent
life-sized portrait, in oil, of Mr. Jermain. The beautiful drap-
ery in the parlor was donated by Mrs. Teunis Van Vechten,
of Albany while the old mahogany table which stands there,
formerly the property of the Gansevoort estate, was pre-
sented by Mrs. Abram Lansing of this city.

James B. Jermain.

193

On the 22d of September, 1887, in the presence of a large
assembly, the building was dedicated with appropriate cer-
emonies. Addresses and remarks were made by President
A. P. Stevens of the association, Cephas Brainard, Esq., of
New York, Rev. Drs. J. H. Ecob, Henry M. King, W. W.
Battershall and D. W. Gates of Albany, while the singing
was conducted by Ira D. Sankey.

On that interesting and memorable occasion President
Stevens delivered an earnest address, of which the following
are the closing passages :

“ The liberality of the citizens of Albany has furnished a
site, and the magnificent gift of our esteemed fellow-towns-
man, Mr. James B. Jermain, a building, in every part and
all its details, as well adapted to our work as any of its kind
in the United States. We have, in our parlor and offices,
our reading-room, library, educational class-rooms, gymnas-
ium, baths and the commodious hall in which we are to-day
assembled, all that can be desired to attract and interest the
young men who are thus so liberally provided for ; and we
take this completed building, as it is placed in our hands by
him whom ail of us will ever remember with gratitude and
love for what he has thus accomplished, and promise that,
relying on our heavenly Father, and asking for His guidance
and assistance, we will endeavor to do what we can to
strengthen and build up those who come to us, not only
physically, mentally and morally, but make them strong in
the Lord and the power of His might. We realize that ‘ to
him whom much is given of him will much be required,'
and, recognizing our great responsibility, we ask for your
earnest prayers that we may succeed.

“ We start forward well equipped for the new duties
which lie before us. We have a board of trustees in whom

194

Noted Living Albanians.

the title to the real estate owned by us is vested, which is
composed of men eminently qualified for their duties. We
have also a board of directors and a complete corps of as-
sistants composed of younger men, who are devoted to the
work and zealous in advancing it. Our ladies' auxiliary
board is from the best workers in our churches, and has ren-
dered us great service by raising $3,000 for the furnishing of
our building, and are ready to furnish any further assistance
that lies in their power. Our committees are all hard at
work completing arrangements for the increasing demands
being made in all departments, and made necessary by our
enlarged work.

“ In conclusion, we desire, as an association, once more
to express our thanks to those who have placed in our
hands such a magnificently equipped building to be used for
the best good of the young men of this city, and may the
life of our benefactor, Mr. Jermain, be long spared to see the
good results that will follow his action, so fittingly consum-
mated this day.”

The concluding remarks of Mr. Brainard were particularly
appropriate and felicitous.

‘‘ You have here,” said he, “ a splendid building, upon a site
contributed as no other has been given, a building that is the
gift of a single man of wealth, a benevolent and appreciative
citizen, who lives to see the consummation of the work he
had helped to create in so large a measure, a work unique,
splendid, majestic; an inspiration, an encouragement and a
blessed thought to the association all over the country.
May it long stand on the shore of our commerce-laden,
peaceful river. The blessing of the Lord shall and will be
upon this edifice, which will remain as a monument to the
honor and experience of him who, in his age, has given it

James B. Jermain. 195

for the benefit of aspiring, useful and hopeful young man-
hood.”

After Mr. Sankey had thrilled the audience by singing a
beautiful descriptive solo, entitled “The Model Church,”
the Rev. Wendell Prime, editor of the New York Observer,
came forward and read the following address, prepared by
Mr. Jermain :

“ Having been requested to say a few words in the matter
of the presentation of this building to the young men of this
city who may desire to avail themselves of its privileges, I
feel that I can add nothing to what has been already said.
The moral dangers of a great city, to save young men from
which this building has been erected, have already been de-
picted in glowing, but true colors. The boy, in a moral
sense, is the father of the man. Here, young men, you will
find what will elevate, purify and cultivate the mind, what
will strengthen the body, and, above all, what will direct
you to attaining that immortal life of the soul for which the
blessing of this life should be a preparation. May the bless-
ing of God rest upon you and upon this edifice, w^hich I now
have the honor and satisfaction of presenting to you.”

When the reading of Mr. Jermain’s address ol presenta-
tion was finished, there was a burst of applause from the
spectators ; and when he was constrained to rise from his
seat in acknowledgment, the entire audience rose and
cheered vociferously. Never shall we forget the touching
and morally sublime scene when the venerable giver, tremu-
lous with intense emotion and with a glow of pure benevo-
lence on his face, bowed before the audience who were there
to witness his offering so magnificent and philanthrophic,
the growing glory of a long and well-spent life.

’ The Young Men's Christian association is an ornament to

Noted Living Albanians.

the city of Albany, and it will be of incalculable benefit to
young men as well as a lasting monument to the generosity
and nobleness of Mr. Jermain.

Mr. Frank W. Ober, whose heart and hands have been
so long interested in Christian work, is the present efficient
secretary of the association while Prof. W. B. Dickinson has
sole charge of the physical culture department.

Mr. Jermain has a fine private residence on the west side
of the Hudson, a short distance north of Albany. This
was formerly the home of the famous Gen. Worth, but it
has been remodeled and fitted up in the best style by the
present owner.

Mr. Jermain has also a charming summer cottage at
Cooperstown, N. Y. where he usually spends portions of the
months of July and August of each year.

He has always been strongly attached to old Washington
county, where he passed so many youthful days in the
valley of Cambridge, so rich in natural scenery, with the
Green mountains rising in grandeur from extensive plains
in the east*and fine farming lands with wooded hills meet-
ing the view on the west and north. But besides the beau-
tiful landscape there are other attractions to him there,
which, after the lapse of so many years, are still full of
pleasant memories. While living with his uncle, the Rev.
Dr. Prime, there were many excellent men of note, with
some of whom he took “ sweet counsel,” and of whom he
has still a lively remembrance, such as his uncle, Hon.
George W. Jermain, one of the most prominent and highly-
esteemed citizens of the county, Hon. Gerret Wendell, Hon.
Luther J. Howe, Hon. Martin Lee, James Gilmore, Herman
Van Veghten, William Stevenson, Edward Small, Leonard
Wells, William D. Beattie, James Hill, John Robertson,

James B. Jermain.

197

Ahira Eldridge, James McKie, Russell M. Wright, Ephraim
H. Newton, D. D., and Alexander Bullions, D. D., all of
whom now rest from their earthly labors, conflicts and
triumphs, while their works of charity and labors of love
still follow them.

It is doubtful whether Mr. Jermain has enjoyed life so
well of late years, outside his residence near this city, as
when spending a few weeks of closing summer or early au-
tumn in his pleasant rural cottage at White Creek, near the
Vermont line, and not many miles south of the “ Sweet
Vale,” of Cambridge. There he owns over seventeen hun-
dred acres of fertile land, which is managed by an agent and
devoted more exclusively to stock purposes. In the midst of
such “rural sights and rural scenes,” in frequent conversa-
tion with the substantial old farmers and citizens in the
vicinity, he finds that relaxation and rest which enables him,
when the leaves of autumn begin to fall, to carry on more
vigorously his office work in this city, through the winter,
daily riding from his country home to his place of business
here, through cold, storm or sunshine.

Among the recent benevolent works in which Mr. Jermain
has been deeply engaged is the financial success and pros-
perity of the “ Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society,”
incorporated on the 3d of May, 1889. This was first called
the “ Albany County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Children.” The present buildings are known as the Fair-
view Home for Friendless Children, and stand on a gently
rising hill, being the highest point in the town of Watervliet
about a mile north-west of Troy, commanding a fine view of
East Troy, West Troy, a portion of Cohoes, Lansingburgh,
Oakwood cemetery and the Hudson river for several miles.
No more delightful location for such an institution could

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Noted Living Albanians.

have been found in the whole vicinity. A large front yard,
with beautiful maple and elm trees, adds greatly to the at-
tractions of the place. The grounds belonging to the in-
stitution contain fifty-six acres, thirteen of which are reserved,
and the remainder rented to a practical farmer who occupies
a cottage on the premises. It is expected, however, that
in time the whole land will be worked by the inmates of
the home.

It was entirely due to the efforts of Mr. Jermain that this
humane society was established on a sound financial basis,
when disaster stared it in the face. He then came forward
with generous proposals, secured the transfer of the property
to the corporation created by the action of the state board
of charities, so that the institution could receive any “ state
and county money for the children therein committed.”

The object of this society is to take children whose pa-
rents are worse than dead — intemperate, dissipated, cruel or
grossly negligent of their tender offspring — to clothe and
feed such children, to give them a good common-school
education with moral training, and to qualify them for en-
gaging in some useful trade or occupation in life. ^

On the first floor of the original building is a wide hall,
with reception-rooms, and office of the superintendent.
On the second floor are the teachers' room, governess
room and promotion wards. On the top floor is the dor-
mitory for the children.

Some time ago Mr. Jermain offered to build entirely at
his own expense, an annex to this noble charitable institu-
tion. The offer was gratefully accepted by the officers and
patrons of the home. Work was commenced on the spa-
cious brick annex in the fall of 1889, and the building was
finished early in the summer of the following year, at a cost

James B. Jermain.

199

of nearly $60,000, including its grounds. On the 1 3th of June,
1890, in the presence of a large audience, the building was
dedicated with appropriate exercises. Rev. Walter Laidlaw
of West Troy, president of the home, spoke of the generos-
ity of Mr. Jermain and of the work intended to be accom-
plished; while the venerable donor, in a few impressive re-
marks, said the building spoke for itself, and that it carried
out a series of noble charitable offerings in which he had
been interested.

On the main floor of this new building there is a large din-
ing-room, with school-rooms, etc., on the second floor is the
dormitory, with about fifty iron beds, neatly arranged in a
large room, while on the top floor are the hospital wards.
The new building will be occupied by boys, and the original
one by girls. The home as it now stands affords accom-
modations for one hundred children, and is most complete
in all its departmants — a model institution of its kind.

Such excellent discipline is maintained among the young
inmates, that corporal punishment is seldom resorted to, and
then only as a last resort. The whole establishment
is in no sense a prison, but has a cheerful, homelike sur-
rounding.

As we visited Fairview home the other day and looked
upon its beautiful surrounding scenery, inspected its interior
arrangements, saw so many little children seated around the
dining-table — fed, clothed, taught and started in right ways
in life — principally through the instrumentality of Mr. Jer-
main— we were deeply impressed with the thought, that in
future years, when they are grown to manhood or woman-
hood and become useful members of society, some of those
children would rise up to revere the name of so generous a
donor to a noble charity.

200

Noted Living Albanians.

In 1842, Mr. Jermain married Miss Catharine Ann Rice,
of Cambridge, Washington county, N. Y., by whom he had
five children. Of these three daughters are living ; the only
son, Barclay, a young man of great excellence and promise,
died in 1882, His death was a great blow to his father, who,
however, received it in the true spirit of Christian resigna-
tion. Mrs. J. B. Jermain, who was a lady of an amiable
disposition — cultured and refined, possessing at the same
time the graces of the sincere Christian — departed this life
in 1874, deeply lamented by her surviving husband, her chil-
dren and her many friends.

It is to be hoped that many years may yet be added to
the life of Mr. James B. Jermain — whose highest ambition
is still in the line of philanthropy, and whose maturest
thoughts are, how the best interests of humanity and Chris-
tianity may be advanced.

“Age sits with decent grace upon his visage,

And worthily becomes his silver locks;

He wears the marks of many years well spent,

Of virtue, truth well tried, and wise experience.”

WILLIAM H. KEELER

IN THE development of a particular branch of industry
in Albany one of the most striking and successful ex-
amples is presented in the career of William H. Keeler, the
founder of the well-known and popular oyster-house of this
city. While many other Albanians have attained distinc-
tion in literature, science and art, or secured the emolu-
ments belonging to some of the learned professions or the
laurels of the successful politician, it has been his chief aim
in life to cultivate and master an important branch of physi-
cal science which will always be popular while the world
exists ; and that is the art of properly preparing delicious
food for the hungry. He is, therefore, a representative Al-
banian, standing at the head of the caterers of the day,
whose name is familiar as a household word to our citizens
as well as to thousands all over the land, and who has sup-
plied more of the wants of “ the inner man ” than almost
any one else in the same line of business.

From an humble origin and small beginning, like many
of the successful men of our time in different vocations and
professions, he has steadily advanced to the front rank of
restaurateurs and hotel-keepers of the land. The career of
such a man is notable from the fact that it shows a Hrge
amount of executive ability, untiring perseverance, and a
26

202

Noted Living Albanians.

singleness of purpose that cannot be turned aside from the
one great object to be obtained. Onward — onward and
upward is the motto of such men, as they march on till they
attain the greatest possible excellence and eminence in what-
ever they undertake as a calling in life. Following the
natural bent of their genius, carefully studying the require-
ments of their chosen work, diligently improving the flying
moments, and closely attending to the wants of the
public, they are sure in the end to meet with that suc-
cess which their youthful imagination painted in glowing
colors.

William H. Keeler, the subject of our present memoir,
was born in 1843, city of Albany. He is a son of

Daniel Keeler, a highly-respected and life-long resident of
this city, who died about the year 1840. At a tender age
William was sent to the district school, where he was in-
structed in the elementary branches of education, such as
might fit him for carrying on some useful, practical business
in every-day life He was early inclined to the active pur-
suits of trade and commerce, not to the securing of academ-
ical honors or the mastery of some learned profession.
As he grew up there was no hesitancy about the choice of
an occupation. From boyhood this had been fixed in his
mind and he has never since had cause to regret the course
he pursued. When a young man of twenty he opened a
small place on Green street as An oyster-house. As he was
poor he commenced business on a very small capital; but
at the same time he was industrious, honest, prudent, eco-
nomical and enterprising, and visions of final success cheered
him in his new, adventurous undertaking. At first his pa-
trons were few, but they reported so many good things about
Keeler’s little oyster-house, especially how well they liked

William H. Keeler.

203

his “ stews/’ that it was soon more largely patronized, till
the place was thronged by new comers from morning till
late at night. More room was soon required, and accord-
ingly additions were made to the original establishment.
And then his customers came in still larger numbers, and
the chief reason was because they found that Keeler’s
oysters and clams, in every style of preparation, were the
best to be found in the city. He seemed to have thoroughly
mastered the minutest details of his occupation — to have
learned the art of preparing his dishes in the most inviting
and delicious style, so that his oyster-house *really became
famous among Albanians and the traveling public from all
directions. He always made it a point to serve those who
sat down at his table with a liberal hand. His stews came
hot from the stewing-pan, like “a steam of rich distilled
perfumes,” with plenty of choice butter, crackers, cold-slaw,
pickles, etc. His raw oysters and clams were the best to be
found in the market, and the milk he furnished was in its
original purity. Everybody who visited “ Keeler’s ” was
sure to get the worth of his money, and to go away highly
pleased. And here, under this judicious and successful man-
agement was conducted an oyster-house on Green street,
which for seven years became a universal and favorite resort.
Mr. Keeler then sold the property.

Some of his political friends having persuaded him to en-
ter into political life, he was elected as a democratic alden
man from the fourth ward in 1872, and re-elected in iS/q,
serving in all four years. He was also street commissioner
five years. His popularity still increasing, he was in 1882
elected sheriff of Albany county over John Sand, republican,
and Colonel Severance, independent democrat. He dield
the position during a term of three years, administering its

204

Noted Living Albanians.

affairs with much efficiency and ability, and to the satisfac-
tion of all parties having dealings with the office.

In 1877 Keeler married Miss Taylor, and has a family
of five children. His private residence is 979 Madison ave-
nue, surrounded by large and handsome grounds, where the
calmer walks of domestic life may be more fully enjoyed.

It is somewhat remarkable that after an experience of
twelve years in the exciting and perplexing arena of politi-
cal life Mr. Keeler should return with renewed vigor and
activity to the chosen occupation of his earlier days, to
achieve still greater success and more widespread celebrity
in it.

In looking around for another establishment, with an eye
especially for the complete accommodation of ladies as well
as gentlemen, Mr. Keeler purchased, in 1886, the stately
building. No. 26 Maiden lane, now the busy thoroughfare
for the traveling public to and from the cars and boats. It
is a most desirable location for the purposes for which it has
been selected. And it is hardly necessary to say that from
the very first this venture was a grand success, the place
being the popular resort for many of our leading merchants
and business-men, besides the numerous visitors, who on
reaching Albany soon find their way to Keeler’s” on
Maiden lane. In it are contained all the latest improve-
ments and appliances in the modus operandi of a first class
establishment of this kind. On the first floor and near the
large front windows are the ovens and ranges where, during
the colder months of the year, oysters, clams, eggs and
meats of all kinds are prepared for the table in the most ex-
peditious manner, and under the care of professional cooks.
In the summer the food is generally prepared in the kitchen
in the rear of the restaurant. There is a new feature re-

William H. Keeler.

205

cently introduced into this establishment, and that is steam
stewing-pans, of which a patent is held in St. Louis, and
which are, we believe, only to be found in the Hoffman
house and the Morton house. New York. This is certainly
a great improvement on the old way of preparing oyster
stews. There is no danger of scorching the food, and the
fine flavor is perfectly retained. About twenty-five tables
for gentlemen, are placed through the dining-room, while
large ventilating fans, on which Mr. Keeler has secured a
patent, constantly revolve over the heads of the guests in
the warm summer days and nights, cooling as the breath of
autumn. On the second floor is the ladies’ dining-room,
where ample accommodation is afforded for two hundred and
fifty, in a quiet and inviting way, and where all the delicacies
of the season are served ’by ready, skillful hands. But Mr.
Keeler’s idea of what should constitute a perfect restaurant
in connection with a grand model hotel on the European
plan has been fully realized in the finishing up of other apart-
ments in an elegant manner and by additional stories to the
main building. A brief glance at some of these new
attractions will be interesting to many. Besides the. ladies’
large dining-room on the second floor, already mentioned,
facing Maiden lane and James street, finely finished with
oak and chestnut and richly carpeted, with mirrors extend-
ing all along the walls of the room, with ventilating fans
overhead, there are twenty-eight other smaller dining
rooms, for select parties, furnished with elegant new
chairs, tables, mirrors and Brussels carpets, rivalling in
beauty and attractiveness the little private dining-rooms
in the United States hotel or Grand Union at Saratoga
and some other famous hostelries. With gentlemen of
quiet,, retiring manners this attractive feature cannot be
too highly appreciated. These rooms are already in de-

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Noted Living Albanians.

mand by committees, and members of different societies
and organizations wishing to transact business in a more
private and quiet manner. On the third, fourth and fifth
stories are the gentlemen’s new sleeping rooms, forty
in all, fitted up in the latest style, with a choice artistic dis-
play of furniture — with the best bedding, fine chamber sets,
rich, new carpets, mirrors, and all that is necessary to con-
tribute to the comfort of the most refined persons. These
rooms are large, perfectly ventilated, and heated by steam.
There is no dark room in the number. Taken altogether
they are among the finest rooms for gentlemen that can be
found in any hotel in the state. They are let by the day,
week or month, while the restaurant tables below furnish
food for the most fastidious appetite. This supplies on a
larger and more magnificent scale something that has long
been wanted in our city — a first-class restaurant in connec’
tion with a first-class hotel ou the European plan.

The business of this establishment increasing so rapidly
and encroaching on the dining-room in the restaurant, it
was thought best by the proprietor to have a separate cafe
on the first floor. This is a room 20x28 feet, whose interior
finish is a marvel of beauty. The walls are ten and a half feet
in height and the ceiling is of corrugated iron, furnished by
James Wasson of this city, being the only one of the kind
in Albany. A visit to this room would well repay the lover
of fine workmanship. A small sitting-room is in the rear of the
cafe, and a neat, commodious reading-room between this and
the gentlemen’s dining-room, both of which are well-lighted.
Several bath-rooms for gentlemen are tastefully fitted up in
different parts of the building. The whole work of con-
struction in all departments is in harmony with the original
grand design of the projector and owner of the establish-

William H. Keeler.

207

ment. It may be proper to add here that, in full compliance
with a recent law, fire escapes, manufactured by Sullivan &
Ehlers of this city, have been placed on the front of the
building. No 28 Maiden lane.

Thus, to the enterprise of William H. Keeler, his long
and close study of the wants and comforts of different
classes of people, their various tastes and feelings, is due the
completion of this new restaurant and hotel which will
doubtless be the leading” and most noted establishment of
its kind this side the metropolis, and one in which Albanians
will take especial pride, and which will call forth the highest
commendations from weary travelers from abroad, who will
here find the best of food, the best of accommodations, and
the tranquillity which they so often long for, in its home-like
and pleasant rooms. The whole interior work was finished
about the ist of September, 1888, when all the new apart-
ments were thrown open to the public.

In keeping with his naturally progressive spirit, and to
carry out his plans on a still broader compass^ Mr. Keeler,
in January, 1890, purchased the building. Nos. 484 and 486
Broadway near the corner of Maiden lane, which is to be
connected with his Maiden lane establishment and fitted up
in fine, modern style for the use of guests ; the first floor to
be thrown into a large dining-room, hotel office, etc., and the
upper stories to be used as sleeping-rooms. In the com-
ing spring will be added to this establishment the build-
ings Nos. 30 Maiden lane and 19 James street, and the
total number of gentlemen’s sleeping-rooms in all will be
one hundred and fifteen. The full requirements will then
be secured for conducting a mammoth restaurant and hotel
on the grandest scale.

GEORGE W. KIRCHWEY.

Among the younger members of the Albany bar, whose
attainments, not only in his special profession, but
also in the wide range of general literature, have already
gained for him distinction and honor, is George W. Kirch-
wey, of the law firm of Eaton & Kirchwey, and dean of the
Albany Law school.

Born on the 3d day of July, 1855, in the city of Detroit,
Mich., he is the oldest child of honored parents who are
still living in our midst. He was reared in an atmosphere
of ideas, and does not remember the time when he did not
have a book in his hands. He would have been a dull boy
if he had not been something of a philosopher even in child-
hood. But he was not a dull boy and he made good use of
the advantages which were thus afforded him. Home edu-
cation in Detroit was followed by regular instruction in the
schools of Chicago, to which city Mr. Kirchwey removed with
his family soon after the outbreak of the civil war, in 1862.
Nine years later, in the fall of 1871, the family removed
to Albany, which has proved to be its permanent home.

After arriving in Albany George spent a year in one of
the public schools and then entered the high school, where
he received his preparation for college. He was then a
bright, active, thoughtful boy of sixteen, and from the tes-

George W. Kirchwey.

209

timony of his teachers and fellow-pupils was a faithful and
successful student, taking the highest stand in his classes
and distinguishing himself particularly in his literary work
and in debate. He was throughout his course a leader
among his fellows, with whom he was deservedly popular,
and in the debating society of the school gained a reputa-
tion for forcible and convincing oratory and parliamentary
ability which has not been surpassed in the school since his
graduation, fifteen years ago. At the commencement of
his class he delivered the valedictory oration and was
awarded the medal for the best graduation essay in a class
of fifty. He has ever since been looked upon as one of the
brightest of the many able graduates of that flourishing in-
stitution. He retains a lively interest in and a warm affec-
tion for the school, frequently serving on its examination
committees, and he was one of the leading spirits in the or-
ganization of its alumni association, of which he was for
several years the president.

On leaving the high school with such an enviable record
he entered Yale college in the fall of 1875, in a class num-
bering two hundred men. From the first he applied him-
self with ardor as well as with ail diligence to the severe
labors of his college course. His earnest and well-directed
efforts were crowned with an unusual measure of success.
He gained literary and classical prizes even in his fresh-
man and sophomore years. In his junior year he became
the most prominent man of tho year in college by the bril-
liant effort with which he captured the junior exhibition
prize, one of the most coveted honors of the course at Yale.
His oration on that occasion, on Richelieu, won for him the
praise of the faculty as well as of his fellow-students, and is
reputed never to have been surpassed on that stage.

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Noted Living Albanians.

After these successes . and the distinction which they
brought him, he was the inevitable choice of his class for
the position of class orator, and of the faculty for the place
of honor (after that of the valedictorian and salutatorian)
on the commencement stage. His class oration, on De-
mocracy and the Individual,” was a profound and noble
effort, and more than justified his s, election to represent the
class on the most memorable occasion of its course in college.

Kirchwey was perhaps the busiest man in his class, if not
in New Haven, during his commencement week, in the sum-
mer of 1879, addition to his class and com-

mencement orations, to take part in the great contest for
the DeForest medal, which rounds up the career of each
class at Yale college. He was one of the six men selected
by the faculty, on the ground of scholarship as well as liter-
ary ability, to take the Townsend prizes and speak in the
college chapel in competition for this medal, and he was
confessedly second in the contest only to his distinguished
fellow-townsman, Louis Judson Swinburne, to whom the
medal was awarded. Besides the brilliant Swinburne, whose
untimely death occurred only a few years ago, this class was
distinguished by the fact that it included three other Al-
banians of unusual ability and rare promise. These were
Harry James TenEyck, whose brilliant career at college was
followed by a few years of increasing usefulness and grow-
ing distinction here in his native city, and whose recent
death we have not yet ceased to mourn ; James W. Eaton,
Jr., distinguished equally as a lawyer, a shrewd politician
and a graceful after-dinner orator, who is the law part-
ner of Mr. Kirchwey and his associate in the law school,
and the rising and successful young specialist. Dr. David
Fleischman.

George W. Kirchwey.

21 I

After graduating with such exceptional honors, Mr.
Kirchwey immediately returned to Albany and commenced
the study of law in the office of Stedman & Shepard, then
one of the leading law firms in this city and of which the
honored Stephen O. Shepard was counsel. Of this office he
was managing clerk for three years, during which he worked
and read law incessantly and at the same time made the
most of the exceptional opportunities in the way of practice
which his responsible position with this important firm af-
forded him. He prepared himself for his life-work with
characteristic deliberation and thoroughness. He was a
sound lawyer before he applied for admission to the bar,
which he did in the fall of 1882.

In the spring of the following year, after having spent six
months in practice in New York city, he formed a part-
nership with his friend and former classmate, Mr. James W.
Eaton, Jr., which still continues. After the usual painful
experience of young lawyers in establishing a practice, the
tide, as it always does, when energy and perseverance are
combined with talent, turned in favor of the young firm,
until at present it enjoys a large and lucrative, as well as
growing practice. While undertaking general law cases Mr.
Kirchwey has paid particular attention to corporation law
and numbers many corporations at Albany and elsewhere
among his clients.

During his legal practice he has devoted much of his
spare time to literary labors. He has written frequently on
historical, political and legal topics for papers and legal peri-
odicals. He has read an occasional paper before the Al-
bany institute, and, in 1886, he delivered a notable and stirr-
ing fourth of July oration in the city hall in Albany. He
contributed some chapters to Mr. James W. Eaton’s admir-

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Noted Living Albanians.

able edition of Reeve’s Domestic Relations^ published in
1888, and is now engaged on an important piece of legal
writing, which, however, will probably not see the light for at
least a year to come. Three years ago he was selected by
the regents of the University of the state of New York to
undertake the important work of editing the Clinton papers
— a great and invaluable collection of historical material con-
tained in the state library — and for a year he devoted him-
self assiduously to the congenial task which had been in-
trusted to him, when the exigencies of his growing practice
compelled him to surrender it. During his incumbency of
this office, brief as it was, he succeeded in collecting a great
deal of valuable historical material and in laying the founda-
tion of more than one historical work, which it is hoped he
may some day have leisure to elaborate and complete.

In politics Mr. Kirchwey has always been a republican,
but he was one of “ the immortal army of martyrs ” who, in
1882 1884 and again in 1888, voted for the democratic can-
didate, and it is not recorded of him that he has yet re-
pented of his ways. He has, ever since his school days,
been deeply interested in all the reform movements which
have successively swept over the social and political fields.
He has done good service in the cause of civil service re-
form, in whose doctrines he is an ardent believer. He is the
permanent secretary of the Albany branch of the Civil Ser-
vice Reform league, of which the Hon. Matthew Hale is
president, and is also a member of the Reform club of New
York. He has never sought a political career nor held a
political office. Nevertheless his time and talents have
ever been at the service of every worthy cause which
claimed them, and offices of trust and honor have more than
once been conferred upon him. He is a member of the

George W. Kirchwey.

213

American Historical association, and of the Albany insti-
tute, in whose work he takes a great interest, and of whose
publication committee he is the efficient chairman ; he is
a member of the Fort Orange and Press clubs, a trustee of
the Female academy, secretary of the Yale Alumni associa-
tion of eastern New York, etc., etc.

Mr. Kirchwey is pre-eminently a scholar. He has been
a life-long student, a great lover of books, devoting many a
leisure hour to the companionship of those silent but elo-
quent friends of the spirit. Even from his boyhood he has
been an omnivorous and inveterate reader. The range of his
reading was remarkable. Before he went to college, at the
age of nineteen, he had read the works of Carlyle, Emerson,
Froude, Matthew Arnold, Darwin, Spencer and . many
more of the masters of modern literature, science and philos-
ophy— besides all the fiction that he could lay his hands
on. These tastes and characteristics have remained with
him and become a part of him. He has been heard to say
that much, if not the best part of his education, at school
and college, was gained by him in this way, without the as-
sistance of texts and teachers. Since that time his favorite
studies outside of law, have been in the departments of his-
tory, political and social science, etc. He has read widely
in general jurisprudence and has not allowed the severer
duties of his profession to keep him a stranger to the history
and literature of the law. In addition to the acquirements
already dwelt upon, it may be added that Mr. Kirchwey is
a classical scholar and linguist of no mean attainments, hav-
ing a good command of the German and French as well as
of the Greek and Latin languages, and being a competent as
well as an enthusiastic admirer of the literatures embodied
in those tongues.

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Noted Living Albanians.

It is not surprising that greater honors and heavier re-
sponsibilities were in store for one with such qualities of
mind and such capacities for.work. Accordingly, upon the
resignation of the Hon. Horace E. Smith, the honored head
of the Albany Law school, a year ago, the position of dean
of the school with the professor’s chair, vacated by Prof.
Smith, were at once offered to Mr. Kirchwey and accepted
by him. He has entered upon the exacting duties of his
high office with characteristic ardor, energy and industry,
with most exalted ideas as to the part which the law school
should play in the education of coming generations of law-
yers, and with a determination to raise the Albany Law
school to the first place among American schools of law.
No one who knows the man and the opportunity will doubt
the results of his efforts. His distinguished associate in the
faculty of the law school. Prof. Irving Browne, thus speaks
of the beginnings of the new administration in a recent num-
ber of The Green Bag:

“ George W. Kirchwey, one of most brilliant and best ed-
ucated of the young lawyers of Albany, was, by the unani-
mous voice of the faculty and trustees of the school, chosen
to succeed Mr. Smith. He is thirty-four years of age, and
was graduated at Yale in 1879. brings to his arduous

post the gifts of youth, energy, tact, physical and mental
vigor and power of expression, and the acquirements of pro-
fessional and general scholarship in a remarkable degree.
The opening of his administration has been characterized
by an unusual measure of success, and the faculty predict
for him great eminence as an instructor, and an increase of
usefulness and prosperity for the school. Mr. Kirchwey has
adopted a new and most effective method of instruction,
based upon the Harvard system of teaching by leading cases.

George W. Kirchwey.

215

His . lectures, which are entirely extemporaneous and are
combined with the discussion of carefully selected cases pre-
viously assigned to the class, have resulted in stimulating the
interest of the students to a most gratifying degree.”

It was most fitting that this young and gifted son of old
Yale should be placed at the head of an institution over
which, in past years, had so ably presided Ira Harris, Amos
Dean and Isaac Edwards — those great jurists and instruct-
ors in legal science. To this honorable place Mr. Kirchwey
is entitled by his culture and attainments as a scholar, his
profound knowlege and practical experience of law, his clear,
logical mind, his high executive ability and remarkable in-
dustry, with all the amenities that grace his social life and
the rare, sterling qualities of his private character. Under
his administration there will doubtless be infused a new,
glowing spirit into a time-honored institution, from which so
many now distinguished members of the bar have gone forth
to engage in the contests of legal warfare as well as into the
higher walks of public life.

It may be of interest in this, the forty-first year of the
Albany Law school’s useful existence, to give a list of the
faculty with the subjects taught by them respectively. They
are as follows ; Hon. William L. Learned, LL. D., president
of the board of trustees; professor of Equity and lecturer on
The Trial of Causes ; George W. Kirchwey, dean of the
law school, professor of Jurisprudence and the law of Con-
tracts and Evidence; Hon. Matthew Hale, LL. D., professor
of Personal Rights and Torts ^ and lecturer on Professional
Ethics; Charles T. F. Spoor, professor of Practice Plead-
ing; Irving Browne, professor of the law of the Doinestic
Relations dixxd Criminal Law; Nathaniel C. Moak, lecturer
on Books and Judicial Systems; Maurice J. Lewi, M. D.,

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Noted Living Albanians.

lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence; James W. Eaton, Jr.,
professor of the law of Real and Personal Property Wills;
Hon. Judson S. Landon, LL. D., professor of Constitutional
Lazo; Hon. Hiram E. Sickles, lecturer on the Sources of
Municipal Lazv.

In spite of the demands which the duties of this import-
ant position make upon his time and energy. Dean Kirch-
wey has not allowed it to interfere with the exacting labors
of his large and growing practice, nor has he abated the en-
ergy with which he has thrown himself into the various ac-
tivities of his busy life.

In the autumn of 1883 he married Dora Child, only
daughter of the Rev. Rufus Wendell, formerly of Albany,
by whom he has had two children, a son now five years of
age and an infant daughter.

WILLIAM L. LEARNED.

An ALBANY jurist whose long and interesting career
has reflected no little credit upon himself as well as
upon the city of his adoption, is the Hon. William Law
Learned, of the supreme court. He was born on the 24th
of July, 1821, at New London, Connecticut, and is the son
of Ebenezer Learned and Lydia Coit, his second wife. His
ancestry is of English origin. His ancestors emigrated to
this country at an early day, and settled in Charlestown,
Mass. The first admission to the First church of Charles-
town was that of his ancestor, William Learned, in 1632.
Both his grandfathers, Amasa Learned and Joshua Coit,
were men of excellent character, learning and ability in their
day ; and both of them were members of congress about
the beginning of the present century.

The father of the present judge was for many years a
practicing lawyer, and later in life became a cashier in one of
the state banks of Connecticut. He was a man of sound
and excellent judgment, and of the purest integrity. At an
early age he was graduated from Yale college, and after
teaching school for a few years he entered in the practice of
his profession at New London.

In the pleasant town of New London, William L. Learned
spent his earliest years, under the careful and tender instruc-
28

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Noted Living Albanians.

tion of intelligent and loving parents. He early mani-
fested a strong taste for learning, and the highest ambition
of his boyhood was to become, like his father, a good law-
yer. He first attended the union school at New London,
where he enjoyed the best facilities for acquiring a knowl-
edge of the elementary branches of education. His school-
boy days were well improved. He was always conscien-
tiously devoted to his books. The pleasures of science and
literature even then possessed far greater attractions for him
than the usual sports of boys of his age. And every passing
month showed some advance up the hill of learning. At the
school of New London he was thoroughly prepared fora col-
legiate course, and, in 1837, the age of sixteen, he entered
the freshman class of Yale college, then under the presidency
of the late Jeremiah Day. Here he continued his studies
with increasing devotion and marked success. If any study
was of more special interest to him in his college curriculum
it was that of ancient classical literature. He loved to pore over
the pages of Virgil, Horace, Cicero, Tacitus, Livy, Homer,
Herodotus, Zenophon and Demosthenes. By this admira-
ble discipline he laid the foundation of his own critical taste
and simple, correct and polished style of composition. At the
junior exhibition of his class Mr. Learned had the appointment
of the Latin oration. He delivered a Latin poem. During
his college course he contributed to the Yale Literary Maga-
zine two or three Latin poems besides an article in English.

He was a member of the Linonian society, one of the
three societies which then included all of the students. His
popularity made him also a member of several of the smaller
societies, or class societies as they are called, among them
that which is known by the somewhat piratical name of
“ The Skull and Bones.”

William L. Learned.

219

On graduating from Yale college in 1841, with high honors,
he was appointed salutatorian of his class, and delivered an
oration which displayed superior scholarship and was re-
ceived with applause by the faculty of the college, the stu-
dents and the cultured audience. Among Judge Learned’s
class-mates at Yale were Joseph F. Barnard, Lucien C. Birds-
eye, Gilbert Dean, all of whom became justices of the su-
preme court of the state of New York; William E. Robin-
son, prominent in political circles; B. G. Northrup, an edu-
cator ; Stephen D. Law, author of works on the law of pat-
ents ; Rev. Thomas F. Peters, noted for his works of benev-
olence in the city of New York ; and Donald G. Mitchell,
who has given to the world, under the pen-name of “ Ik
Marvel,” his “Reveries of a Bachelor,” and other pleasing
and popular contributions to American literature. On leav-
ing the halls of old Yale college, with his mind now fully de-
cided upon the choice of a profession, Mr. Learned entered
the law office of William F. Brainard of New London, where
he took up and studied with a new satisfaction and pleasure
the leading text-books on the law. After a year thus spent,
he came to Troy, N. Y., and continued his legal studies in
the office of Gould & Olin of that city. Mr. Learned was
peculiarly fortunate in becoming a student of these well-
known counselors, the former of whom for his high attain-
ments in the knowledge of the law was, in 1855, elected a
justice of the supreme court of the state of New York for
the third judicial district. Mr. Learned’s associate in the
law office of Gould & Olin was George C. Waite, a brother
of the late lamented justice of the United States supreme
court.

In the autumn of 1844 our future judge was admitted to
the bar at Rochester during the meeting of the old “ supreme

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Noted Living Albanians.

court of judicature of the people of the state of New York,’’
over which Chief Justice Samuel Nelson presided, with Esek
Cowan and Greene C. Bronson as associates. The student
career of young Learned thus closing with a studious, suc-
cessful and honorable record, he was now duly qualified to
enter the broad arena of forensic work and warfare. The
selection of a location was the next thing to be considered
by him, and after taking a careful survey of inviting fields of
labor, he finally decided upon Albany. In this decision he
made no mistake. He has always been proud of the city
which he selected as a permanent residence, and Albanians
have always respected and honored him for the true profes-
sional and social qualities which he possesses. Coming here
in 1845, he formed a copartnership a few years later with
Gilbert L. Wilson, who afterward accepted the position of
secretary of the New York Central Railroad Company. After
some years James C. Cook became a member of the firm,
and on the retirement of Mr. Wilson, Messrs. Learned and
Cook continued the copartnership. Rufus G. Beardslee, now
a prominent lawyer in New York city, was also for a time
one of the firm. This firm was not long in gaining an ex-
cellent reputation, and its legal business continued daily to
increase. In 1867 Mr. Cook retired permanently from the
practice of the law, and thenceforth Mr. Learned carried on
his law business without a partner. For three years he en-
gaged in his professional work with marked success, show-
ing much ability and learning in his legal arguments, which
were expressed in strong, convincing language. His forensic
efforts have always showed the solid work of the finished
scholar and deep thinker, rather than the more flowery dis-
play of the mere rhetorician.

On account of his eminent abilities, his extensive knowl-

William L. Learned.

221

edge of the law in all its various departments, his high sense
of honor and manliness in the management of cases, and his
supreme devotion to the business of his profession, he was
soon to occupy a higher position in the walks of legal life.
In 1870 Rufus W. Peckham, one of the justices of the su-
preme court, was elected a judge of the court of appeals,
when a vacancy was created on the bench of the supreme
court. This vacancy Governor John T. Hoffman promptly
filled by appointing Mr. Learned to the position. It was a
well-deserved tribute to a studious and rising lawyer, whose
substantial qualities and rare endowments were becoming
more widely known, and who was well calculated to adorn
so honorable and responsible a place.

In the fall of 1870 Judge Learned was nominated by the
democrats as a justice of the supreme court in the third
judicial district for the full term of fourteen years. He was
triumphantly elected over his republican opponent, the late
eloquent Henry Smith. He was the first judge elected for
the term of fourteen years. The judicial career of Judge
Learned now opened with bright promises for the future — -
a career which has been one of unremitting labor and great
acceptance to the public during a term of eighteen years.

Among the earliest cases which came before him was one
which excited great interest in the city at the time ; the
trial of Filkins for a dangerous assault upon an express
messenger, connected, as was thought, with a large robbery
from the express company. The prosecution was conducted
by Rufus W. Peckham, Jr., then district attorney and now
a judge of the court of appeals and by the late William J.
Hadley, and the defense by Nathaniel C. Moak and S.
W. Rosendale, and all the counsel showed distinguished
ability.’

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Noted Living Albanians.

A few years afterward another case, which was marked
by many striking features, was tried before him ; that of
Lowenstein for the murder of Weston, in which the dis-
covery of the crime and of the criminal illustrated remark-
ably the old saying that ‘‘murder will out.”

In 1874 Judge Learned was appointed one of the faculty
of the Albany Law school — now a department of Union
university — of which Hon. Ira Harris, Hon. Matthew Hale
and Isaac Edwards were members. Here Judge Lear;Ued
opened the treasures of his extensive legal learning to the
students in elaborate lectures on the civil law, equity and
the trial of causes. These lectures, requiring so much time
and research to prepare, he has continued to deliver for the
benefit of the law students during the last fourteen years.

Throughout all these lectures he has endeavored to im-
press upon the students the thought that the science of the
law is and should be the science of the just and the right,
and that purity and goodness of character are important
elements in legal training.

The lectures on the civil law were an attempt to give
some knowledge of a subject which has received too little
atttention from American law students, and to awaken and
an interest in the just and equitable principles of the Roman
law. It was hoped that students here might follow the
example of modern teachings in England.

As to the trial of causes Judge Learned desired to give
the students some practical ideas of the skill by which an
advocate is successful, and of the right mode of using their
legal knowledge, and to caution them against the errors
into which counsel often fall. The lectures on this subject
have been found especially interesting to the students. In-
struction in law schools is generally directed to the rules

William L. Learned.

223

and doctrines of law. It is seldom that an effort is made to
guide the young lawyer in his labors as an advocate. The
absence of any instruction of this kind led Judge Learned
to the preparation of these lectures, which treat of the prac-
tical matter of preparing causes for trial, of presenting the
evidences and of summing up the case.

For some years Judge Learned has been president of the
faculty and of the board of trustees. The Albany Law
school has for many years been one of the branches of
Union university, and hence as president of the board of
trustees of the school, Judge Learned has been one of the
governors of the university.

In 1875, Gov. Tilden appointed Judge Learned presiding
justice of the third department, in the place of Hon. Theo-
dore Miller, elected to the court of appeals. His associates
were Hon. Douglass Boardman of Ithaca, and Hon. Augus-
tus Bockes of Saratoga Springs. Soon after assuming the
duties of presiding justice. Judge Learned pronounced his
first opinion in the case of Gould v. The Town of Oneonta,
reported in 3 Hun, 404. His numerous opinions, which have
s,o enriched the volumes of Hun, are expressed in a style of
great perspicuity, vigor and terseness, with a most thorough
examination and analysis of the intricate cases under con-
sideration. His charges to juries are noted for their direct,
able and impartial presentation of the points of law. The
preparation of lectures on the civil law and his admiration
for its doctrines have led him, in some degree, to the study
of that noble system. And this study has given him broader
views of legal principles than would be obtained by a close
following of some of the harsh and technical rules of the
common law. Justitia est constans et perpetiia voluntas jus
suum cuique tribuendi.

224

Noted Living Albanians.

On the expiration of his term of office, in 1884, Judge
Learned was renominated by the democrats as a justice of
the third judicial district, and after a spirited contest was
elected over Hobart Krum, Esq., of Schoharie, the republi-
can candidate. This was the time of the presidential elec-
tion, and Judge Learned’s vote was larger than that of the
democratic electors. He was again appointed presiding jus-
tice of the third department ; this time by Gov. Cleveland.
His associates were then Justice Bockes and Justice Landon,
Justice Boardman having been assigned to a new department.
Since Judge Learned was appointed to the general term the
unremitting labor of himself and of his associates has greatly
reduced the calendar and has removed all ground of com-
plaint as to delay in that court. Though not very active in
political warfare, the judge has been a life-long democrat of
the Jeffersonian school. In 1878 he received from Yale col-
lege the degree of LL. D. For many years he has been
president of the Albany Female academy; and trustee of
the Albany academy ; both of which institutions he is justly
proud. He has delivered literary addresses on many occa-
sions, edited several works, and contributed largely to the
periodical law and magazine literature of the day. He ed-
ited, several years ago, an edition, published by Munsell, of
Madam Knight’s Journal, an interesting account of a jour-
ney taken in early times from Boston to New York, and also
an edition of Earle’s Microcosmography. He has inter-
ested himself in genealogical researches and published in
1882 a volume containing the genealogical history of his
family. Besides his large law library, he has a fine private
collection of miscellaneous books in all departments of gen-
eral literature, among which are included many rare and
costly illustrated works.

William L. Learned.

225

Judge Learned'has been twice married. His first wife was
Phebe Rowland Marvin, a daughter of the late Alexander
Marvin of this city, and of Mary E. Pepoon, his wife. By
his first wife Judge Learned had three daughters. His
present wife was Katharine De Witt, a daughter of the late
Clinton De Witt, a very prominent lawyer of New York
city, and of Elsie Van Dyck, his wife. Abraham De Witt
of this city, a son of Clinton De Witt, maintains the high
credit and standing of his father in the same profession.

Judge Learned’s eldest daughter married John De Witt
Peltz, a successful lawyer, who practiced for several years in
this city. In the spring of 1887, Mr. Peltz, on account of the
illness of his wife, moved to Colorado Springs, Col., with his
family, where Mrs. Peltz died, November 23, 1888, leaving
two sons surviving her. After his wife’s death, Mr. Peltz re-
mained for some time at that place, having an extensive and
increasing legal business there. But he has now returned to
Albany and has resumed the practice of his profession here.

The late Billings P. Learned, president of the Union
bank in this city and an active and influential citizen, was an
older brother of Judge Learned.

Like some of his brethren on the bench Judge Learned is
not without the rhyming faculty, which he has occasionally
exercised for the gratification of his friends.

Distinguished alike for his profound knowledge of the
law, and his general literary acquisitions, affable and modest
in his manners, conscientious and upright in the discharge
of his public and private duties, Judge Learned has reached
the zenith of his usefulness with the satisfaction of rounding
out a life well-spent in the cause of judicial integrity, in the
advancement of science and literature, and in being a friend
and advocate of the highest interests of his fellow-citizens.

JOHN W. McNAMARA.

A TRULY representative Albanian, who is actively en-
gaged in a work highly conducive to the comfort and
convenience of his fellow citizens, is John W. McNamara,
the present efficient general manager and treasurer of the
Albany railway. His career is interesting and instructive as
showing a progressive mind with comprehensive views, and
an adaptability for filling with marked success different offi-
cial relations of an intellectual or purely practical business
nature. He was born on the 9th of January, 1839,
town of Watervliet, Albany county, near what is now known
as Karnerville. He is a son of Hugh McNamara and Ellen
his wife, who, seeking to better their financial condition, left
the shores of their native land — Ireland — and sailed for
America in 1832. On reaching this country they found their
way to Albany, where they first located. After staying here
for a brief period Mr. Hugh McNamara, who was a wide-
awake business man and familiar with railroad matters, re-
ceived the appointment of track superintendent on the old
Mohawk and Hudson River railroad, and removed to the
town of Watervliet before the close of 1832. Here in the
midst of a rustic settlement John W. McNamara, the sub-
ject of our sketch, passed the first five years of his life, blessed
with the tender care and filial affection of parents over

John W. McNamara.

227

whom the grave has since closed. In the spring of 1844, his
parents returned to Albany to spend their remaining days
in the city of their adoption. In the fall of the same year,
during the presidential campaign, the boy John saw the first
torgh-light procession in favor of Polk and Dallas pass through
our streets, a scene which made such a vivid impression
upon his childhood’s fancy that he never forgot it.

After attending the primary department of a private
school, of which the late Michael O’Sullivan was principal,
he was the pupil of his godfather, the late Thomas Newman,
who was a fine classical scholar, and who took pride in teach-
ing his godson the classics. During part of this tutelage he
attended the school kept by Rabbi Wise on South Ferry
street, Mr. Newman being one of the rabbi’s assistants.

Determined to obtain a good education with an especial
reference to its practical application, he entered the experi-
mental department of the State Normal school at Albany,
where he remained about a year, making such progress in
his studies that he was about ready to graduate, when an in-
cident occurred which for some time turned his attention in
another direction. When the New York state census of
1855 was ordered to be taken, the late Dr. Franklin B. Hough
of Lowville, N. Y., had charge of the work under the direc-
tion of Hon. Elias W. Leavenworth, then secretary of state,
and on the recommendation of Amos M. Kellogg, principal
of the experimental departmentof the State Normal school,
young McNamara was selected as one of six or seven boys
to assist in the compilation of the census returns. He en-
tered upon this work in the summer of 1855, and remained
at his post of duty until the completion of the census. His
quickness of perception, exactness in figures, and reliability
as a young man, were the chief causes for his selection for

228

Noted Living Albanians.

such a position, the duties of which he discharged to the en-
tire satisfaction of his employers. After finishing his labors
in the census he re-entered the State Normal school, from
which he graduated in 1858. Redeeming the pledge which
he had made while at the Normal school to become a school
teacher for three years, he then, on the recommendation of
David H. Cochran, now principal of the Brooklyn Polytech-
nic institute, took charge of a school at Mineola, Long Is-
land. He afterward taught at Manhasset and Maspeth.
His career as a school teacher lasted three years, closing on
the very day when the news of the fall of Fort Sumter
was flashed over the wires. It has been asserted by persons
living in the vicinity of his school operations that McNamara
made an excellent pedagogue, maintaining perfect order
without the excessive use of the dreaded birch rod, and ad-
vancing with all possible speed his young pupils over the
fair fields of knowledge. The early experience which he re-
ceived as a school teacher has doubtless been of no little ad-
vantage to him in controlling and directing other matters in
an orderly, systematic, thorough manner.

During all his schoolboy days Mr. McNamara had one
particular object in view, and that was that he might some
day become a lawyer. Since 1854 he had given his atten-
tion more or less to this subject in a quiet way, reading with
avidity and growing satisfaction various elementary law
treatises which he had procured. Leaving his Long Island
schools for other hands to carry on, he returned home in the
spring of 1861, and entered the law office of Messrs. Court-
ney & Cassidy, a noted firm in its day, and having a large
clientage. Among his fellow students here was the Hon. S.
W. Rosendale, of this city.

Not long afterward Mr. McNamara entered the law office

' John W. McNamara. 229

of L. D. Holstein, where he finished his preparatory legal
studies. He was admitted to the bar in 1862. He then be-
came a member of the law firm of Holstein, Cheever &
McNamara. This firm lasted until 1864, when on the death
of Mr. Holstein in that year the business was continued
under the firm name of Cheever & McNamara. In 1868
Mr. Cheever removed to New York city and Mr. S. Y. Haw-
ley and Mr. McNamara formed a copartnership, which ex-
isted until the death of Mr. Hawley in 1887. In the mean-
time, without any solicitation on his part, Mr. McNamara
was unanimously chosen police justice to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of Hon. S. H. Parsons in 1869,
and in the following spring he was elected for a full term,
which expired in May, 1874.

A new field of labor and activity was at length opened to
Mr. McNamara, into which he entered with a zeal and faith-
fulness which have already been crowned with success. On
the death of Mr. Holstein, who was one of the incorporators
of the Albany railway, Mr. McNamara was chosen secretary
of the company — an office which he continued to fill until
the autumn of 1880, when he was advanced to his present
important and responsible position as treasurer and general
manager of the Albany railway. Under Mr. McNamara’s
administration the Albany railway system ha^ been placed
in the most efficient working order. Rough tracks have
been made smooth, and great extensions have been com-
pleted in the lines of travel. For years he was an enthusias-
tic advocate of the cable system to take the place of horses
on the hill lines, and later urged the company to adopt elec-
tricity as a motive power. The fact that the cars of the
railway are now being operated by electric motors is due in
great part to him.

230

Noted Living Albanians.

On the organization of the Committee of Thirteen in Jan-
uary, 1 88 1, Mr. McNamara was elected one of its members.
He is the first vice-president of the Law and Order league,
of which David A. Thompson, Esq., is president. He was
also for a long time a member of the old fire department, be-
ing attached to Mountaineer company, No. 5, kept in the
house now occupied by Steamer No. i, in Washington
avenue. He is one of the incorporators and directors of the
Albany Stove Company, which for twenty years has done a
prosperous business. He is also one of the incorporators of
the Catholic union and at present one of its trustees. He
has for many years been a trustee of St. Vincent’s Orphan
asylum and a member of the advisory board of managers of
St. Peter’s hospital. In 1863, Mr. McNamara married Miss
Martha J. Ramsey, an estimable lady, daughter of Rev.
Frederic Ramsey, of Lawyerville, Schoharie county, N. Y.,
and a sister of ex-Senator Ramsey.

No citizen is more desirous of promoting the best interests
of Albany in its material and moral development than Mr.
McNamara. A man of varied experience and large knowl-
edge of human nature, with a benevolent disposition and
broad ideas, yet firm in his opinion of what he deems to be
right, a hater of wrong in all its manifestations, and a lover
of truth and justice, he is at the same time a person of rare
executive ability and has well earned the reputation of be-
ing one of the most thorough business men of Albany.

EDWARD A. MAHER.

The annals of Albany furnish several striking instances
of the gradual rise of young men from the hum-
bler walks of life to places of distinction and respon-
sibility in political affairs. And among the number of
such persons whose early aspirations have been crowned
with success is included the name of ex-Mayor Edward
A. Maher. His career is certainly a notable one, while
it is full of inspiration and encouragement to young men.
He was born in the city of Albany on the 20th day of May,
1848, little over forty years ago. He was not rocked in the
cradle of wealth and luxury ; and yet in his young, health-
ful, vivacious life there seemed to exist the elements which
are necessary for the proper development of a genuine self-
made man.

While childhood’s days were passing over him he de-
lighted not in the sports of reckless boys on the streets or
in the fields, but was longing after something more substan-
tial and elevating. His parents gave him all the advantages
within their means of obtaining a good education. When
a mere child they placed him in a public school of the
city, where he was not slow in learning his lessons, or in
forming the studious habits of mental discipline. As he
grew older he became a pupil of the State Normal school,

232

Noted Living Albanians.

from which excellent institution he graduated in 1867. In
the meantime his parents moved from their old residence in
Canal street down town, where young Maher grew up to
manhood and formed many a lasting acquaintance among
the young men of the fourth ward. When he had reached
the age of twenty one he went into business for some time
as a wholesale liquor merchant. But his true tastes were
not yet fully gratified. Politics seems even then to have
presented strong attractions* for him, and being an uncom-
promising young democrat, highly popular in his neighbor-
hood, he was nominated by his party and elected in 1876 as
supervisor of the fourth ward — an honor worthily be-
stowed upon a young man of twenty-eight, who was honestly
trying to make a creditable record and work his way upward
and onward in the more public business of life. In the
board of supervisors Mr. Maher was a leading member, and
had the reputation of being “a practical common sense re-
former.” Displaying business qualities of no inferior order
in the discharge of his official duties, and meeting with the
approbation of his fellow-citizens, his popularity was on the
increase, and he was re-elected supervisor in 1877 chosen
president of the board. About this time he became a care-
ful student of political economy in municipal affairs, and it
was through him as president of the board of supervisors
that the first grinding committee ” was formed which so
largely cut down the expenses of the city. His efforts in
this line were unremitting, while they were duly appreciated
by the tax payers, whose interests he had all along in view.
At the same time Mr. Maher favored all laudable means for
improving and beautifying his native city, to which he has
ever been strongly attached.

In 1878 Mr. Maher was a clerk of the supreme court, a

Edward A. Maher.

233

position which he held until the 1st of May, 1880. He was
then appointed deputy county clerk, discharging the duties
of the office with marked ability until the 1st of September,
1881, when he resigned. It was not long, however, before
he was looked upon by the democratic party of Albany as
one of their strongest men to represent them in the legisla-
tive halls, and when the democratic assembly convention of
Albany met in the fall of 1882 he was nominated for mem-
ber of assembly. He was triumphantly elected by a plural-
ity of 2,251, his opponents being Michael A. Murray (ind.)
and Charles S. Many (rep.) It may be candidly asserted
that Mr. Maher proved to be one of the most useful and
active members the democrats ever sent to the legislature
from the city of Albany.

In the fall of 1883 Mr. Maher was re-elected to the legis-
lature. Throwing aside all partisan views we believe as time
rolls on, that the legislative record of Mr. Maher will be
universally regarded as one that was ‘‘ full of good work ”
for the city of Albany, reflecting no little credit upon the
young and rising representative, whose honest, early strug-
gles in life were worthy of all praise. The only opposition
to him was of a political nature. He is an enthusiastic, un-
flinching democrat, trained in a school of politics of which
the late lamented Daniel Manning was an able master. He
has been a democrat from first to last, and yet very kindly
in his feelings and official acts toward those who differed
from him politically.

On the 3d of April, 1888, Mr. Maher was unanimously
nominated by the democrats as a candidate for mayor of
the city of Albany, and after a brief but spirited contest he
was elected by a majority of 2,753 over Dr. John Swinburne
— a record of which he was justly proud. He assumed his

234

Noted Living Albanians.

new, untried duties with his usual characteristic business-like
qualities, and with a large knowledge of what the city needs
in the way of progress and improvement, heartily favoring
those measures which tend to advance the best interests of
the citizens and their various noble institutions. His ad-
ministration was a successful one ; and when on the 6th of
May, 1890, he resigned the reins of government into the
hands of his successor, Hon. James H. Manning, he received
the general approval of his fellow-citizens, irrespective of
party.

Mr. Maher has long been the manager of the Albany
Electric Light and Store Service Company, where his execu-
tive abilities as a careful and thorough business man have
been brought into full play.

In personal appearance Mr. Maher presents a remarkably
fine physique, with a stout frame indicative of the existence
of a sound and vigorous constitution. He is amiable in his
disposition, true in his friendships, full of generous impulses,
and displays energy, industry, ability, and integrity in all his
public trusts.

He is especially popular among the young men of Albany,
and by the members of his party he is looked upon as the
leader of the young democracy of the city. His past record
has been an honorable one, and his future is full of bright

promise.

JAMES HILTON MANNING.

An individual who is deeply interested in the pro-
gress and advancement of the varied municipal in-
terests of Albany is the Hon. James H. Manning, our pres-
ent mayor. On the 22d day of September, 1854, he was
born in this city, which he has ever since made his home.
He is principally of English ancestry, and is a son of the
late Hon. Daniel Manning, whose record forms so bright a
page in our local and national history. His grandfather,
John Manning, settled in Albany February i, 1814, and died
here April 3, 1837.- His mother, whose maiden name was
Mary Little, was born in Carlisle, England.

A passing notice of the Hon. Daniel Manning will not be
inappropriate here as preliminary to a sketch of his now dis-
tinguished son. Born in Albany May 16, 1831, he received
an early education in the public schools of the city, and
when he was twelve years of age, entered the office of the
Albany Argus. His natural abilities soon became known
and appreciated, and he gradually rose through the various
grades until he became manager of the paper. In 1873
he was made president of the Argus Company. The study
of our banking system also engaged his attention and
he soon became well versed in all great financial matters and
an excellent authority on difficult questions in this depart-

236

Noted Living Albanians.

ment. He filled the position of trustee in the National
Savings bank, and in 1881 was chosen vice-president of the
National Commercial bank of Albany. On the death of
Hon. Robert H. Pruyn in 1882, he succeeded him as presi-
dent of the same institution. Besides his general knowledge
of banking and currency he gave much thought to the work-
ing of railroad matters, and was especially interested in the
success of the Albany and Susquehanna line. His political
career suddenly broke forth with brilliancy and was perhaps
the crowning glory of a life cut short in the midst of press-
ing public duties. He possessed all the necessary qualities
for a leader among men, and like a skillful general planned
his own movements closely, marshaled his forces and led
them on to many a splendid victory. He was a member of
the New York state democratic conventions from 1874 till
1884, A rnember of the democratic state committees from
the' former date till 1885, its secretary in 1879-80, and chair-
man in 1881-84, a delegate to the national democratic con-
ventions of 1876, 1880 and 1884, serving as chairman
of that body in 1880, and of the New York delegation
to the convention of 1884, which nominated Grover
Cleveland for the presidency — an event largely due to
the political sagacity and bold, dashing leadership of Mr.
Manning.

In March, 1885, President Cleveland appointed Mr. Man-
ning secretary of the treasury, a position which he resigned
in April, 1887, in consequence of failing health brought on by
incessant hard work, without sufficient mental relaxation.
He died on the 24th of December, 1887, deeply lamented by
the American people. The last official appointment which
he accepted was the presidency of the Western National
bank of New York. As an able and sound financier as well

James H. Manning.

237

as a successful politician his name will live in the pages of
American history through coming generations.

James H. Manning, the subject of this sketch, early
evinced a fondness for study, and was first sent to the Al-
bany public school, No. 10, of which George H. Benjamin
was principal. In 1869, he entered the high school, where
during four years he pursued the classical, English and
mathematical courses with diligence and success, and gradu-
ated with honor in 1873. Among his schoolmates at the
high school were James M. Ruso, Dean George W. Kirch-
wey. Prof. William D. Goewey, and other brilliant young
Albanians. During his academical course he was particularly
fond of the study of oratory, and on his graduation he was
awarded the gold medal for the best speaker, and also re-
ceived first mention for essay.

With a view of turning to some useful, practical account
the knowledge he was gaining at the schools, young Man-
ning spent two of his school vacations in the composing
rooms of the Argus Company, where he readily learned the
art of type-setting. In the autumn of 1873 he entered the
employ of the same company as subscription clerk, continu-
ing in this capacity until the spring of the following year,
when he accepted a position on the reportorial staff of the
Argus. His duties now were highly beneficial in enlarging
his knowledge of Albany affairs, and in forming a wider cir-
cle of acquaintances and lasting friendships.

As a means of recreation from the daily routine of news-
paper work, to learn something of a new and interesting
department of science, and to gratify his strong taste for
looking upon the grand arid beautiful objects in natural scen-
ery, Mr. Manning spent several summers in the Adiron-
dacks, assisting Verplank Colvin, director of the Adirondack

238

Noted Living Albanians.

survey. In the summer of 1887, Mr. Manning made one of
the most remarkable trips known to frequenters of the
Adirondacks, that of ascending and descending Mount
Marcy (5,400 feet above the level of the sea) three days in
succession, and going to and from the camp of his party,
which was situated on the banks of Opalescent river, five
miles from the foot of the mountain. This was due to the
fact that, for the work he had to perform, fair weather was
necessary, and it was not until the third day that the haze
that had enveloped the summit of Marcy cleared off, and
left the grand old peak visible from distant mountains.
And in the following year he discovered a mountain close
beside Lyon mountain, now called in honor of him, “ Mount
Manning. ”

In 1875, Mr. Manning’s official relations with military
affairs began when he joined the national guard as a member
of Company A, loth regiment, John H. Reynolds being cap-
tain of the company, and Robert S. Oliver, colonel of the regi-
iment. He was appointed sergeant-major of the regiment by
Colonel Oliver, in February, 1877. The next spring he was
commissioned commissary of subsistence with rank of first
lieutenant of the loth regiment, Amasa J. Parker, Jr., colonel
commanding. He is now a member of General Parker’s
third brigade staff. Mr. Manning was one of the organizers
and charter members of the old guard, Albany Zouave
cadets, and was president of the organization.

Other offices and honors were gracefully and worthily be-
stowed upon him. In 1873 he was elected secretary of the
Albany railway, and in 1884 a director of the same company.
He is also a director of the Albany and Susquehanna railroad.
He is a trustee of the National Savings bank, a director of
the National Commercial bank, and of the Park bank, of

James H. Manning.

239

which he was one of the organizers. He has been a man-
ager and vice-president of the Young Men’s association, and
is now a life member ; a member of the Anglers’ association,
Friendly Few, Apollo Singing society. Temple lodge No. 14,
F. and A. M., and the Fort Orange club. He is an original
member of the High School Alumni association, of which he
was president in 1882. He is a vestryman of St. Paul’s
Episcopal church, Lancaster street. He was appointed by
Governor Hill, in 1887, a member of the state Civil Service
commission — a position which he resigned at the close of
1889.

On May 19, 1877, on the publication of the Sunday Argus
Mr. Manning was made its managing editor, continuing at
the same time his work upon the daily paper. In 1880 he
was admitted to the Argus Company; but in 1881 he par-
tially relinquished his newspaper work to accept the posi-
tion of manager, secretary and treasurer of the Bonsilate
Button Company. In 1883 he resigned from this company,
and immediately took his place as managing editor of the
Argiis, while in 1888 he became president of this flourishing
company — a position which for the past seven years he has
filled with credit to himself and fidelity to the democratic
party in the columns of his paper — the leading local organ
of the party.

All the offices of public trust and honor Mr. Manning has
held during the past twenty years he earned by his own
true merit, inflexible integrity, ^nd persistant endeavor in.
the way of business.

Mr. Manning was born and bred a democrat, and has
given to the party and its candidates unyielding and earnest
support. And in recognition of his increasing popularity
among all classes he was unaminously nominated by the

240

Noted Living Albanians.

democrats in April, 1890, for mayor of Albany, and elected
by the unprecedented majority of 7,236.

On the 6th of May he assumed the duties of his
office as the successor of Hon. Edward A. Maher, and
with the best wishes of all good citizens for a successful
administration.

The conclusion of his inaugural address contains these
well-chosen words :

“ We enter to-day upon the performance of grave duties,
and good or harm will come to the city as we discharge
those duties faithfully or neglect them and prove faithless.
The obligation we have assumed, sanctified by the solemn
oaths which we have taken, is one ever to be born in mind
during the coming two years, and must at all times out-
weigh all other considerations in determining our line of
conduct. The opportunities to benefit Albany are numer-
ous and great, and I confidently hope that the common
council and the executive branch of the city government
will be found at all times heartily in accord in improving
those opportunities for the welfare of this ancient and hon-
orable municipality.”

Mr. Manning was one of the five original reorganizers of
the Albany railway, who succeeded in introducing what is
called 'the electric plant, now hailed with such evident satis-
faction by our citizens generally and the success of which is
already fully assured.

As to his personal appearance Mr. Manning is of the or-
dinary size, with a pleasing thoughtful countenance, genial
in his social intercourse with the people, industrious and
studious in his habits, unblemished in his reputation, a
lover of mental labor and of athletic, out-door sports. His
public services have been thus far signally rewarded by his

James H. Manning.

241

fellow-citizens, and in the future other and brighter laurels
will, in all probability, be gathered to grace his manly
brow.

On the 22d of October, 1879, Manning married Miss
Emma J. Austin, a daughter of the late well-known Dr. J.
C. Austin of this city. They have one child, a girl ten
years of age.

FREDERIC GREGORY MATHER.

An ALBANIAN whose name shines with no dim lus-
tre in the republic of letters, is Frederic G. Mather.
Born in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the nth day of
August, 1844, he is a son of Samuel Holmes Mather,
LL. D., of that city. This cultured gentleman was born in
1813, at Washington, N. H.; his father was Dr. Ozias Mather of
East Haddam, Conn. In 1835, a year after his graduation from
Dartmouth college, Samuel H. Mather removed to Cleve-
land, when the city was a village of only four thousand in-
habitants. To-day it is a city with a population of two hun-
dred and fifty thousand. In 1849, established the Society
for Savings, the first institution west of the Hudson river,
on the plan of savings banks in New England and New York.
It is now the largest institution of its kind in the west, the
deposits aggregating over $20,000,000. He also organized
the public library of Cleveland ; and, beside being still an
honored member of the Cleveland bar, he has for many years
been president of the institution which he took such pride
in establishing. In 1889, Dartmouth college gave him the
degree of LL.D. His only brother, now deceased,
was Henry Brainard Mather, who was for many years, a
partner of the late Hon. Amos A. Lawrence, in. Boston,
under the firm name of Lawrence & Co. Both of the

Frederick G. Mather.

243

brothers were intimate friends of Hon. John P. Healy
of that city.

The ancestors of the subject of this sketch, on his fathers
side, were professional men for two hundred and fifty years,
in an unbroken line. They were a long-lived race from the
north of England and partly from Scotland. He is a de-
scendant of the Rev. Richard Mather, the father of Increase
Mather, and the grandfather of Cotton Mather. In 1635,
Richard Mather left his old English home, and settling in
Boston, Mass., became the founder of the Mather family in
America. He married for his second wife, Sarah (Story)
Cotton, widow of the Rev. John Cotton of Boston.

The maiden name of Frederic G. Mather’s mother was
Emily Worthington Gregory. She is a granddaughter of
Col. John Ely of Saybrook, Conn., who, was well known in
the American revolution. He was also the grandfather of
Samuel G. Goodrich (“ Peter Parley ”). She is related to
the Worthingtons, Griswolds, Marvins and other old families
of Connecticut.

In the Cleveland high school Frederic G. Mather received
his earliest training in the walks of literature. No youth,
perhaps, ever attended more faithfully to his studies — a lit-
erary course being the highest ambition of his boyhood days.
Consequently he made most satisfactory progress toward a
thorough preparation for college.

In 1863, he entered Dartmouth college, from which vener-
able institution he was graduated with honor in 1867. His
college days, so diligently improved, were among the most
pleasant and profitable periods of his earlier career; and,
even then, he devoted his leisure to literary subjects,
with a view of entering the field of letters as a life-long work.

Among his classmates at Dartmouth, with whom he formed

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Noted Living Albanians.

close and lasting friendships, were the Hon. John N. Irwin,
appointed governor of Idaho, in 1882, by President Arthur ;
Rev. Dr. Robert G. McNiece, of Salt Lake City, and Hon.
E. B. Maynard, late mayor of Springfield, Mass.

For some time after leaving college Mr. Mather was em-
ployed in commercial pursuits in Cleveland, carrying on at
the same time the study of the law, until he was ready for
admission to the Ohio bar. He soon found, however,
that business and law were distasteful to him, and so relin-
quished both to find a far more congenial occupation in
literary and scientific pursuits.

In 1873 he became managing editor of the Binghamton
(N. Y.) Times — a morning paper, which during that period,
in its separate existence, was a leading advocate of the
principles of the republican party in the southern part of
the state. While carrying on his editorial work at Bing-
hamton, he was appointed a commissioner by the national
bureau of education in the winters of 1873 and 1874 to visit
and inspect the educational institutions of the provinces of
Ontario and Quebec. This was a work just suited to his
taste, and he accomplished it in a faithful and successful
manner, obtaining for the bureau exchanges of documents
which had never before come into possession of the United
States, and receiving the special commendation of Hon.
John Eaton, the head of the bureau. Mr. Mather’s reports
were printed in the annual reports of the commissioner of
education.

In 1875 Mr. Mather purchased an interest in the Bing-
hamton Republican^ and became its editor-in-chief; when,
afterward, the Times and Republican were united he re-
tained his interest and management of the same. Relin-
quishing his newspaper work at Binghamton in 1879,

Frederick G. Mather.

245

made a tour of the state of New York, as political corre-
spondent of the New York Tribune^ and in December of the
same year he was sent by that paper to Montreal and
Ottawa to look after the coming of Lord Lome as gov-
ernor-general of Canada.

While in Binghamton Mr. Mather took an active part in
the public library of that city and in its educational affairs.
In 1880 he wrote editorials for the Albany Evening Journal^
and he has since made his home in this city.

At his residence, No. 120 Lancaster street, Mr. Mather
carries on his literary work in a most systematic manner,
especially through the colder months of the year. There,
in his favorite workshop, familiarly known by his many per-
sonal friends in Albany and elsewhere, as the “den” —
though very much unlike old John Bunyan’s gloomy “ den ”
on Bedford bridge — he has carefully arranged in numerous
cases, “ cabinets ” of valuable information, consisting of old
documents and fugitive literary subject-matter, all so com-
pletely indexed that any paper may be found at once. To
aid him in accomplishing his literary tasks he uses stenogra-
phy, type-writing, and other labor-saving appliances.

On the return of the genial days of summer and autumn
Mr. Mather leaves his “ workshop ” in the city, and resorts
to the northern lakes and woods, there to enjoy the beauties
and sublimities of nature and to secure that relaxation so
beneficial to hard literary workers, as well as to replenish by
his pencil and photography his stores of materials for the
illustrated magazines. He loves with a perfect love that
out-door life which affords so much gratification to persons
of highly imaginative minds and exquisite tastes — such
as boating, yachting, rambling amidst verdant meadows and
shady groves, listening to the melody of birds in the soft-

246

Noted Living Albanians.

ness and stillness of evening, admiring the grandeur of lofty
mountains and romantic landscapes, and the gorgeous,
variegated scenes of an autumn day* in northern New York.

Mr. Mather wields a facile and versatile pen. He is equally
at home in historical, biographical and scientific subjects.
His style is simple, direct and perspicuous. He seizes upon
the leading points in his subject-matter and presents them
in clear, bold, glowing colors. Mr. Mather has written
largely for the leading magazines and reviews of the day,
among which are Harper s Monthly^ Scribner s Magazme,
Wide Awake ^ St. Nicholas^ Magazine of American History^
Outing., Young Jonathan, Princeton Review, Harper s Weekly,
Frank Leslie' s Illustrated Newspaper Frank Leslie' s Popular
Monthly, Scientific Ajnerican, Lippincott' s Magazine, Atlan-
tic Mo7ithly, North Americaii Review^ Popular Science
Monthly, Boys' Book of Sports, Andover Review, Dartmouth
Literary Monthly, etc. The titles of some of the able and
elaborate articles which his prolific pen has furnished for such
periodical publications are : “ On the Border Line,” a sketch

of adventures along the border between Canada and Ver-
mont ; “ Playthings and Amusements of an Old Fashioned
Boy;” “Water Routes from the Great Northwest;” “Hin-
drances to Annexation ;” “ Slavery in the Colony and State
of New York;” a series of “ Historic Homes;” “ The Evo-
lution of Canoeing ;” “ The Armaneiits of Europe “ Pop-
ular Songs of the Eighteenth Century ;” “ Muster Day in
New England;” “Vagaries of Western Architecture;”
“ Memories of the Old Singing-School ;” “A Day with the
Ottawa Chantiermen ;” “ Summer Days along Champlain ;”
“ State and Society in Ottawa ;” “ The City of Albany, 200
Years of Progress;” “Winter Sports in Canada;” “Sham
Legislation ;” and “ The Recurrence of Riots.”

Frederick G. Mather.

247

Mr. Mather is also the author of the following articles in
The Civil Service of the State of New York : “ Banking and
Currency “Insurance,” (in part) ; “ The Port of New York
City;” “ Historical Review.” \n Appleton s Cyclopaedia of
American Biography he wrote the articles on “ The Various
Branches of the Mather Family of New England;” and
also many other articles. For ^ ppleton s A nniial Cyclopaedia
he furnished from 1885 to 1889, from ten to fifteen articles
each year; and for the Cyclopaedia Americana (4 vols.) the
American supplement to the Cyclopaedia Britannica, he
wrote about thirty articles.

Mr. Mather is a member of the following clubs : The

Fort Orange, Camera, Mohican Canoe and Ridgefield Ath-
letic. In 1889 he was elected a curator of the library of
the Young Men’s association by the largest majority any
candidate had had for many years.

During the bi-centennial celebration in iMbany, in 1886,
he took a great interest in the loan exhibition, and prepared,
with great expenditure of time, the catalogue of the same.

Mr. Mather has been twice married. His first wife was
Cornelia H. Olcott of New York city ; his present wife was
Alice E. Yager of Oneonta, N. Y. He has one daughter.
His sister is the widow of Prof. Richard H. Mather of
Amherst college.

Beside being engaged in his great magazine labors, Mr.
Mather is at present the Albany correspondent for about
twenty newspapers, two-thirds of which are published out-
side of the state of New York.

Of a tall, slender figure, possessing some of the Scottish
traits of character, logical and methodical in his writings,
with a thoughtful and studious contenance and no little ur-
banity, pursuing the “ even tenor of his way,” unruffled by

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Noted Living Albanians.

the tumults of political life, he exhibits in a high degree
those marked characteristics which belong to a true literary
gentleman, whose heart and hands are fully engaged in his
work, and whose sole ambition is still to plan and execute
some new undertaking in the world of letters and of science.

ROBERT A. MAXWELL.

^ I HON. Robert A. Maxwell, superintendent of the

A insurance department, was born in Washington
county, N. Y., in 1838. He is a son of Alexander Maxwell,
of Jackson, a prominent citizen of the town, and an intelli-
gent and wealthy farmer. Robert was given the advantages
of a liberal education by his father. After receiving a
thorough instruction at the common schools in his neighbor-
hood, he was sent to the normal school at Albany, where he
finished his education at the age of eighteen. His rare qual-
ities as an educator were unfolded while attending this ex-
cellent institution, and so he soon became principal of the
union school at Greenwich, N. Y. Subsequently he taught
school at Kenosha, Wisconsin. Determined to relinquish a
professional career for mercantile pursuits, he removed to
Chicago and engaged in the commission business — buying
and selling grain and produce. For seven years he was an
active member of the board of trade in that enterprising
city. But too close attention to business, and climatic in-
fluences combined to impair his health ; and coming east, he
settled at Batavia, N. Y. Soon after his settlement in his
new home he invested his ready capital in the malt business,
and became a successful and public-spirited merchant, closely
identifying himself with all those interests which are con-
32

250

Noted Living Albanians.

ducive to the welfare and prosperity of his adopted home.
His influence in public affairs steadily increasing, political
preferments were at length offered to him, but were repeat-
edly declined. The New York State Asylum, for the Blind
was established at Batavia, in 1867. Mr. Maxwell was ap-
pointed one of its trustees in 1878 ; and his careful, systematic
and business-like methods were at once appreciably felt in
the greatly improved management of the institution. He
was soon elected treasurer of the asylum ; and a necessarily
greater intimacy with the direction of its affairs was followed
by much needed reforms, the accomplishment of which won
for him the generous, out-spoken approbation of the philan-
thropists and economists of the state. Shortly after taking
up his residence at Batavia, Mr. Maxwell manifested an ar-
dent interest in politics, his affiliation being with the demo-
cratic party. His sagacity and wisdom displayed in local issues
became so marked and widely known, that in 1880 he was
chosen a member of the democratic state committee. Here
his counsel was sought on all important questions of expe-
diency and candidature, and he gradually rose to conspicu-
ous places in the conferences of party magnates. In 1881
he received the nomination for state treasurer. The mem-
orable “ Waterloo ” of the democracy followed a bitter and
personal canvass ; and out of the disaster but one survivor
remained, and that was Mr. Maxwell. He had not only been
elected, but led his ticket by some 30,000, thereby hand-
somely defeating his well-known opponent, the Hon. James
W. Husted. His official direction of the state treasury was
so entirely satisfactory that he was unanimously renomi-
nated for a second term, and triumphantly elected over the
republican candidate, Mr. Pliny W. Sexton, by over 17,000
majority.

Robert A. Maxwell.

251

Residing at the state capital, in accordance with the re-
quirements of his official position, Mr. Maxwell became
most intimate with influential and prominent men, by whom
he has been constantly consulted on all important questions
regarding the highest interests of the democratic party, and
the public welfare of the country — the administration of a
good, sound, honest government.

The state treasury department, under the wise and judi-
cious management ol Mr. Maxwell, soon came to be recog-
nized as a model business institution. This fact was es-
pecially emphasized by the Albany bankers who expressed
their satisfaction with the improvements inaugurated by the
competent treasurer, in a set of complimentary resolutions.

No one has been a more firm adherent of Governor
David B. Hill than Mr. Maxwell. He was the first to de-
clare himself for the nomination of the governor and was a
most zealous and powerful advocate for his election.

The resignation of John A. McCall, Jr., as superintendent
of the state insurance department, and the acceptance
thereof by the governor, was followed almost immediately,
-by the appointment, on January i, 1886, of Mr. Maxwell to
fill the vacancy. The news of his selection was received on
all sides by marked tokens of approval. His independent
integrity, tried ability and high standing as a business man
and financier were cordially indorsed by the great insur-
ance companies of New York city in their reiterated ap-
proval of the choice made for the chief of a department with
which their associations and interests are so closely allied.
When the nomination was sent to the senate, the confirma-
tion of Mr. Maxwell was moved and seconded by republican
senators (the senate being republican by a large majority),
who dwelt at length in their speeches upon his abilities, fit-

252

Noted Living Albanians.

ness and integrity for so responsible an office. And as a high
mark of universal esteem his confirmation was made unani-
mous.

Superintendent Maxwell is an example of what can be ac-
complished, under a popular form of government, toward
self-elevation, and the recognition of capacity and honesty
by the public at large. Firm in his convictions, nothing has
ever prevented, as far as he was concerned individually, the
carrying out in practice whatever he believed in as a prin-
ciple. Successful in early manhood as a teacher, his mer-
cantile ventures in after years brought him a comfortable
competency; and thus far, in his services as a state official,
he has exercised the prudent carefulness which had ever
been bestowed upon his individual interests in private life.

In contemplating publications from a non-partisan stand-
point, we shall find that the name of Robert A .Maxwell
stands in the first rank among those officials who, for honesty
integrity of character and nobleness of purpose, have re-
flected the brightest lustre upon the empire state.

EDWARD J. MEEGAN.

A DISTINGUISHED, representative man of Albany —
an accomplished lawyer and a leader in politics — is
Edward J. Meegan. The study of his life is full of interest
and profit to the young men of our time, whose chief aim
should be to cultivate manly qualities, industrious habits,
and whatever tends to make useful and influential citizens.
On the 28th of September, i8zj6, in the city of Albany he
first saw the light. His parents were natives of Ireland,
whence they emigrated to this country in the year 1824.
After living some two years in Boston, Mass., they found
their way to Albany. Much pleased with the appearence
, and location of this city they made it their permanent resi-
dence, becoming useful, hard-working, and highly-respected
citizens. Discovering a strong love of learning in their son
Edward, they early sent him to St. Joseph’s parish school,,
where he became a close, diligent and successful student,
mastering the elementary principles of a general education.
There seems to have been no hesitancy in his choice of a
profession — that of a lawyer being early indicated and firmly
adhered to But on account of the limited pecuniary means
of his parents, young Meegan was obliged to rely greatly on
himself for the successful prosecution and completion of his
literary and professional studies. He had scarcely reached

254

Noted Living Albanians.

the age of thirteen when he became a law student in the
office of Edwards & Sturtevant, then a well-known law firm
of this city. He was now in his proper element, beginning
to realize the dreams of his youth, and evincing by his
tastes and studious application that the law was to be the
grand arena in which he was to fight the battle of life. He
was indeed a born lawyer. The study of the legal profes-
sion was to him no drudgery; he explored its mines of
wealth with remarkable quickness and high gratification ;
and even the more dry details of the science were for him
invested with all the charms that others find in a fascinating
romance.

He remained with Edwards & Sturtevant for six or seven
years, and also studied under Isaac Edwards, afterward
principal of the Albany Law school, a man of eminent legal
abilities, and the author of valuable works on “ Bills and
Notes,” ‘‘ Bailments,” etc.

After a careful and thorough legal instruction, Mr. Mee-
gan was admitted to the bar in 1867, at the age of twenty-
one. It was a proud day in his history when, with his law di-
ploma in hand, he stepped out from a student’s life, which
he had followed so creditably, to practice for himself on the
world’s broad stage. Opening a law office at No 74 State
street, Albany, he entered upon his new and cherished pro-
fession with all his native ardor and with a just and laudable
ambition to rise to the summit of forensic fame. And it is
no wonder that, with the previous training and experience
he had received, combined with his inborn love for his pro-
fession, he should speedily become a successful and accom-
plished advocate. From the first he was retained in nu-
merous civil cases, in which he was uniformly victorious and
by which his popularity was greatly increased. His services

Edward J. Meegan.

255

in another capacity were soon required by his fellow-citizens,
when his career as a political leader and adviser may be said
to have commenced. Mr. Meegan is pre-eminently a poli-
tician as well as an excellent lawyer, and he has happily
combined both of these qualities. From first to last a poli-
tician of the democratic order — bold, fearless, skillful and
adroit — giving no quarter to his opponents, he is a veritable
Achilles who would glory in the annihilation of his Hector.
He has already made his mark: in the political world, the
strength of which has made a strong impression not only in
his native city but throughout the state. True to his con-
victions of political duty, he has strongly adhered to one of
the wings of the democratic party in Albany, while he is
vehemently opposed by other factions in the same party —
factions which unhappily too often exist both in republican
and democratic ranks.

Scarcely had two years elapsed in his general law practice
before Mr. Meegan was appointed corporation counsel of
Albany. Hon. George H. Thacher was then mayor of the
city, and the majority of the common council was demo-
cratic. But as a democratic corporation counsel Mr.
Meegan’s official services were of no little value to the gen-
eral welfare of the city, saving it over $500,000. For the
executive ability, rare skill and untiring vigilance which he
displayed in the management of municipal affairs he re-
ceived the thanks of the mayor as well as of the other city
authorities. Mr. Meegan acted as corporation counsel from
the spring of 1869 till the spring of 1874. During all this
time his regular law business was growing, and when he re-
linquished the office of corporation counsel his legal practice
was one of the largest and most lucrative of any in the city.

He now again devoted himself exclusively to civil and

256

Noted Living Albanians.

criminal cases, and success still more marked attended his
many forensic efforts. His career was already a brilliant
one for a young lawyer, but like the morning sun it was
steadily advancing to meridian splendor. In taking hold of
numerous city cases, especially those growing out of actions
to vacate assessments for irregularity, etc., he gained no
little celebrity while he rendered important services in be-
half of the city. In the management of these cases it may
be said of him as of some skillful physician, he never lost a
case. He has also had a large practice in general corpora-
tion law.

Among the many cases in which Mr. Meegan has been
engaged, and in which he has won bright laurels we have
only space here to enumerate several of the most important
and interesting ones.

In 1872 Mr. Meegan was engaged in the defense of the
case of People, ex rel. Edmund L. Judson, v. George H.
Thacker, in which the title to the office of mayor of the city
of Albany was involved. By a masterly display of legal
skill and eloquent pleading he gained the case for his client,
but it was afterward taken to the court of appeals where a
new trial was ordered. In the meantime Mr. Thacher re-
signed his office, having served a year and eight months out
of the regular term of two years. Ten years later Mr. Mee-
gan was retained for the defense in another contest over the
office of mayor of the city of Albany. This time he de-
fended the case of People, ex rel. John Sivinburne , v. Michael
N. Nolan. The litigation was a long, tedious and exciting
one, but after holding the office for fifteen months Mr.
Nolan resigned, and Dr. Swinburne served the remainder of
the term.

In 1883 Mr. Meegan was retained for the defendant in a

Edward J. Meegan. 257

very important case, that of People^ ex rel. McEwen^ v.
Keeler^ touching the constitutionality of the act passed by
the legislature on the 31st of May, 1882, an act which vir-
tually took from Mr. William H. Keeler, the newly elected
sheriff, the essential powers of his office — powers which his
predecessors had always possessed. Mr. Keeler fully de-
termined to contest the matter in the courts, and for this
purpose requested Mr. Meegan to write an opinion as to
the validity of the statute. In a very elaborate opinion,
contrary to the expressed belief of several leading members
of the bar, he came to the conclusion that the law was un-
constitutional and void, and it was finally so declared by the
courts. Great public interest was manifested in the trial of
this case. On this occasion Mr. Meegan displayed the full
force of his masculine eloquence and his deep research into
the questions of constitutional law. Well do we remember
as he stood up to argue this case, the calmness and earnest-
ness of his manner, and the vigor and terseness of his sen-
tences, as they engaged the closest attention of the court
and the whole audience, making an impression that could
not be easily effaced. It was a notable legal triumph for
the lawyer, and the complete vindication of the rights of a
faithful and efficient public servant.

In 1884 Mr. Meegan was retained for the defense in the
celebrated case of People v. James M. Dempsey ct al., in-
volving the constitutionality of chapter 532 of the laws of
1881, amending the Code of Procedure in regard to the
method of selecting grand jurors in Albany county. Mr.
Dempsey was indicted for the alleged violation of the elec-
tion laws under this new act. The case was one of absorb-
ing interest to the people of Albany county ; but Mr. Mee-
gan, in one of the most masterly efforts of his life, in which
33

258

Noted Living Albanians.

the most exhaustive legal research was displayed in the
presentation of authorities and the application of them to
the subject in hand, succeeded in having the indictment de-
clared void and of no effect by the court, on the ground of
unconstitutionality. An appeal was taken by the district
attorney to the supreme court, where Mr. Meegan’s motion
for a dismissal of this appeal was successful.

In 1884 Mr. Meegan was retained for the defense in the
case of People v. Petrea^ indicted for grand larceny. In
that case he appealed to the court of appeals, which sus-
tained the point he made, that the amendment to the code
of civil procedure which assumed to regulate the drawing
of grand jurors was in conflict with the provisions of
the constitution, and therefore void. As in former cases,
Mr. Meegan thereby gained another similar and signal tri-
umph. In the case of People v. Frank R. Sherwin, Mr.
Meegan, who had taken no part in the original trial which
had resulted in the conviction and sentence of Sherwin to
the penitentiary, was afterward retained as counsel by the
defendant, and at length succeeded in procuring stay of the
sentence and having Sherwin admitted to bail in the sum of
$3,000. Mr. Meegan was also successful in quashing the in-
dictment against Devine for mayhem and Gasbeeck for bur-
glary. In all the cases which he has conducted, he has, by
great labor and close examination of the principles of sound
law, brought before judge and jury a vast amount of legal
learning — most adroitly and skillfully set forth. In the
Russell-Chase senatorial contest in 1887, Mr. Meegan was
one of the learned counsel retained by Mr. Russell. In this
case, which involved nice distinctions in the election laws of
the state, Mr. Meegan displayed great ability and research,
and contributed largely to the success of Mr. Russell in se-

Edward J. Meegan.

259

curing his seat in the senate. He was also the leading counsel
for Mr. LeRoy in his successful contest for the office of mem-
ber of assembly in the fourth Albany district against the sit-
ting member, Mr. Gillice. One of his most recent cases was
that of O' Brien v. The Home Benefit recently decided

by the court of appeals, which was a pioneer case against a
benefit society; new and important questions were raised and
decided. Mr. Meegan’s method of procedure was sustained
although he acted contrary to the decisions of the supreme
court of the first department.

Mr. Meegan, now in the very prime of life, possesses a
fine physique, with broad shoulders, dark hair and eyes, an
impressive countenance, an easy and engaging manner. As
a forensic orator he stands in the foremost rank among the
younger members of the Albany bar. His declamation is
calm, earnest, forcible and polished. His memory is tena-
cious, and his knowledge of the law in all its various and
complicated departments is extensive and profound.

Besides all his accomplishments as a lawyer and a poli-
tician, Mr. Meegan is a man of high intellectual culture, a
great lover of books in every department of general litera-
ture, and the possessor of a well-selected private library, in
which he finds much pleasure while disengaged from the
onerous and often perplexing duties of his regular profes-
sion.

The career of Mr. Meegan affords a useful and suggestive
commentary to young men on what may be achieved in
law, literature, and politics by early application in the pur-
suit of knowledge under pecuniary difficulties, by an untir-
ing perseverance in climbing the hill of science, and by a
mind, vigorous, capacious, and self-reliant.

CYRUS STRONG MERRILL, M. D.

Among the noted professional men of Albany no name
^shines with greater resplendency in a special depart-
ment of science than that of Dr. C. S. Merrill, the eminent
oculist and aurist. On the 2ist of September, 1847,
town of Bridport, Vermont, he first saw the light. His par-
ents were Edward Henry Merrill and Sarah Wilson Strong,
whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers of that
state and exerted a marked influence on its affairs before,
as well as since the revolution. From his earliest years the
natural inclination of his genius was plainly manifested.
While a mere boy he delighted in the studies of natural
science, especially in anatomy, physiology and chemistry.
He was thus, unconsciously, laying the foundation of his
future celebrity as a physician ; and while other boys of his
age were indulging in the more boisterous sports of the town
or field, or wasting their time in idleness, young Merrill was
absorbed with books illustrative of the first principles of
medical science. His parents, witnessing with pleasure his
studious habits, determined to gratify his tastes by giving
him a liberal education, and accordingly he was early placed
under the care of competent private tutors. He was next
sent to the Newton academy, where his acquisition of knowl-
edge was very rapid, and where he was carefully prepared

Cyrus S. Merrill, Mo D.

261

for collegCo In 1863, he entered Middlebury college, where
he remained for one year and then went to Amherst college,
“beautiful for situation,” and so noted a seat of learning.
It was then under the presidency of the late venerable Dr.
Stearns, and in a very flourishing condition. From this in-
stitution he graduated with honor in 1867. While at college
Dr. Merrill was a most diligent student, and besides attend-
ing faithfully to his regular studies, took special courses in
the natural sciences, thus unconsciously preparing himself
for the work of later years. On his graduation from college
Dr. Merrill was fully determined on what profession he
should select. Of course it was that of medicine. He was
now in his true element, studying with the greatest interest
all the standard text-books in his chosen profession. With
a mind well versed in general literature, and thoroughly
trained in the elementary principles of medical science, he
was soon fully prepared to enter a first-class medical college.

Selecting one of great reputation he went to New York,
and became a student of the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons in that city, graduating at this excellent institution
in 1871, at the age of twenty-four, having thus early obtained
his merited diplomas by close study and untiring persever-
ance. He was now ready for the great work of an active
practical life ; and he lost no time in undertaking such a
work with a brave heart, and with strong, diligent, skillful
hands. It was about this time that the singular talents and
tastes of the young physician in a special department of
medical and surgical knowledge were more openly displayed
— a department in which he has gained a most enviable and
extended reputation, and successful results in his treatment.
Soon after leaving the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
Dr. Merrill became the resident surgeon of the Brooklyn

262

Noted Living Albanians.

Eye and Ear hospital, where he continued a little over a
year, performing many a difficult and delicate operation
with the greatest success.

In 1872, having determined to obtain all the knowledge he
possibly could of the nature and proper treatment of cases
in his specialty, he went to Europe, and there studied with
great care the various modes of operation and treatment
adopted by the celebrated surgeons and physicians of the
old world. Choosing Germany, France and England as the
best fields for the most thorough investigations and the
latest discoveries, especially in his favorite department, he
first studied in the universities of Zurich, Vienna and Hei-
delberg, and afterward, following up the same course of
study, observation and the latest scientific investigation, he
went to Paris and London.

Dr. Merrill remained abroad more than two years, and re-
turned to his native land in 1874, with his mind more richly
stored with scientific knowledge, more polished and ex-
panded by mingling in the society of learned men, and more
highly instructed by beholding the beauties of natural scen-
ery, the noble works of the fine arts, and the famous old
places visited.

Taking up his permanent residence in Albany, he soon
gained a large and lucrative practice which has been con-
tinually on the increase to the present time, when his fame
as an oculist and aurist has spread all over the country.

In 1874, Dr. Merrill was appointed ophthalmic and aural
surgeon to St. Peter’s hospital — one of the best institutions
of the kind in any city — and soon after he occupied the
same position in the Child’s hospital, and a little later was
invited to take charge of the eye and ear department of
the Troy hospital. In 1876 he was chosen professor of

Cyrus S. Merrill, M. D.

263

diseases of the eye and ear in the Albany Medical college,
the medical department of Union university, and ophthalmic
and aural surgeon to the Albany hospital — all which posi-
tions he still fills with consummate ability and rare skill.

In 1875, Dr. Merrill married Miss Mary E. Griffin, the
only child of Hon. Stephen Griffin, 2d, a wealthy lumber
dealer of Warrensburg, Warren county, N. Y., Avho in 1874
represented his district in the assembly. In his handsome
and pleasant home. No. 23 Washington avenue, the doctor
may be found every day to receive with kind words and care-
ful attention all patients who come to him for consultation
or treatment. Between his college and hospital duties and
his extensive private practice, he is kept very busy from
early morn till late in the evening. At his private residence
there are often crowds of patients waiting for their turn to
come for examination. It may be stated in concluding this
brief sketch of one so eminent in his profession, that Dr.
Merrill’s most remarkable success, especially of late years,
has been the operation for the removal of cataract, and so
wide has been his reputation in this respect that patients
from many states of the Union have come to him for opera-
tions, which have been successfully performed, and whose
dim eyes have thus been m.ade to sparkle with their former
brilliancy, and whose desponding hearts have beat anew
with joyous hopes.

We congratulate the doctor on the grand success he has
already achieved in the very prime of life in his thorough
and scientific treatment of two of the most serious and im-
portant classes of diseases that so often afflict humanity —
those of the eye and the ear. Dr. Merrill has also been a
frequent contributor to current medical literature.

NATHANIEL CLEVELAND
MOAK.

ONE of the brightest luminaries of the legal profes-
sion in Albany is Nathaniel C. Moak, whose career
furnishes a striking example of what may be accomplished
by hard study and unyielding perseverance under many
surrounding difficulties. He was born on the 3d of Octo-
ber, 1833, Sharon, N. Y. When old enough to labor he
worked on his father’s farm till he had reached his sixteenth
year. In the meantime he attended the district schools in
the neighborhood during the winter terms. His thirst for
knowledge when a mere boy was great, and while laying the
foundation of a strong physical constitution by regular
manual labor in the open field he was preparing himself for
bearing up under the mental strain of the hard-working
student. In 1849 attended two or three terms at the
Cherry Valley academy, where he pursued his studies with
great diligence and success. Having now fully determined
to gratify his tastes by pursuing, as far as possible, a
thorough literary course, he entered the Cooperstown acad-
emy, having previously earned sufficient, by laboring upon
a farmy to pay his expenses for about a year at this institu-
tion, then under the care of John Leach. While here, Mr.
Moak resided in the family of Dr. Fox, where he obtained

liyiiililiilliSfiiii!:

Nathaniel C. Moak.

265

a knowledge of anatomy and physiology. This knowledge
has been of great advantage to him in his profession, being
the basis of his great practical knowledge of medical juris-
prudence. In the winters of 1851 and 1852, he taught dis-
trict schools. In 1853 he entered the law office of James
E. Dewey, at Cherry Valley, as a student, and soon gained
sufficient knowledge of the law to practice in justices’ courts,
where he obtained the confidence, experience and skill which
have been the foundation of his great success in his profession.
Mr. Moak has never forgotten his early struggles and the
hardships young members of the bar are compelled to
undergo. No man in the profession is more ready and will-
ing to aid and advise young men and to furnish them with
authorities for use in their cases. The number of letters,
asking for such information, he patiently answers during a
year, is said to be simply incredible.

In January, 1856, Mr. Moak was admitted to the bar at
Cortlandville. He remained in the office of Mr. Dewey un-
til November, 1859, when he formed a co-partnership with
Edwin Countryman. This partnership continued till Janu-
ary I, 1862, when Mr. Countryman removed to Coopers-
town. Mr. Moak then formed a co-partnership with Edwin
Clark, which continued till September, 1865. In the fall of
the same year Mr. Moak removed to Oneonta, where he
practiced till the fall of 1867, when he removed to Albany
and became a member of the firm of Smith, Bancroft &
Moak, of which firm he continued a member until the
deaths of Messrs. Smith and Bancroft. At Albany Mr. Moak
found an appropriate field for the exercise of his great in-
dustry and ability, and was soon retained in most of the
cases of importance. Though possessing an encyclopaedic
knowledge of law, with remarkable quickness in applying
34

266

Noted Living Albanians.

its principles to the case in hand, he has equal ability as a
trial lawyer. He was one of Mr. Ramsey’s trusted advisers
in the famous “ Susquehanna war ” between Ramsey and
Fisk and Gould for the possession of the Susquehanna rail-
road. In November, 1871, Mr. Moak was elected district
attorney of Albany county, entering upon the discharge of
his duties January i, 1872, his term ending December 31,
1874. The manner in which he discharged the duties of
this office added largely to his reputation. He tried and
convicted Emil Lowenstein for the midnight murder of
John Weston, on the sand plains west of Albany. His clos-
ing address on that memorable occasion, was replete with
great research, learning and ability, and has since been
quoted from in almost every important criminal case. He
twice tried, on the second trial convicting, several persons
(called the Modocs) for swindling an old man from Che-
nango county by card playing. He also tried and convicted
Charles H. Phelps, a defaulting clerk in the state treasurer’s
office, on two charges of larceny in stealing checks delivered
to, but appropriated by, him, and on a charge of forgery in
making false entries in the books of the state treasury.
These convictions were all affirmed in the highest court.

On retiring from office, Mr. Moak confined himself almost
exclusively to civil practice, though he has occasionally ac-
cepted retainers in criminal cases. He defended Henry A.
Mann, the defaulting treasurer of Saratoga county, and
secured his acquittal on the technical point that the de-
fendant could not be convicted of forgery in signing his own
name officially as “ treasurer ” to a note accepted as the
obligation of the county. He also assisted the district
attorney of Montgomery county in the prosecution and
conviction of Sam Steenburg, a negro, for the murder, at

Nathaniel C. Moak.

267

Amsterdam, of a man for his money. In 1878, and again
in 1880, he assisted the district attorney of Saratoga county
in the trials of Jesse Billings, Jr., for the murder of his wife
at Northumberland June 5, 1878. Each trial occupied
about six weeks. The first resulted in a disagreement of
the jury, and the second in an acquittal. Though the ac-
cused was accquitted, Mr. Moak probably won greater
reputation in that case than in any single case he ever tried.
His closing addresses, particularly that on the second trial,
were probably the strongest and ablest he ever made.
Upon the conclusion of the second trial, his great and gen-
erous antagonist, Hon. William A. Beach, remarked that it
was the strongest and most impressive he had ever heard in
a court of justice. Never shall we forget the scene in the
court-room on the occasion of the second trial of Billings,
when Mr. Moak arose, and in the most earnest and impas^
sioned manner delivered an address replete with legal lore, wit,
pathos, denuncia tion of the crime of murder — all interwoven
with the most forcible illustrations, and apt, classical allu-
sions. The effect was electric. All eyes were turned upon
the speaker, with undivided attention, while the deepest
stillness reigned throughout the crowded court-room.

Mr. Moak’s practice is one of the most varied and ex-
tensive of any lawyer’s in the state. He never enters upon
a trial or an argument without the most thorough prepara-
tion it is possible for him to make. He throws his entire
energy and strength upon one or two of the strongest points
of the case, ignoring all others. His arguments in banc are
oral, and rarely does he refer to his brief except for a cita-
tion to, or the most brief extract from, an authority. After
a concise but clear statement of the salient facts, his argu-
ment upon the law is compact and pointed, seeking only to

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possess the court of the points in his briefs, which are al-
ways full and ample ; his theory being, as he expresses it,
“The court can read the brief, and that is what it is for.”

Mr. Moak has probably the most extensive private law
library in the Union, numbering about sixteen thousand
volumes, having all the English, Irish, Scotch, Canadian,
Australian, and even the Sandwich Island Reports, together
with all the reports of every state in the Union, the federal
and all the irregular reports published in the country, with a
full and valuable collection of text-books.

As an examiner of expert witnesses, Mr. Moak has few
equals. He has an instinctive love of justice and honesty,
and is ever ready to do what he can to aid the right in pub-
lic affairs. Residing at the capital of the state, he has
drawn and aided in the passage of many needed reforms in
its laws. As was said in one of the Albany papers of No-
vember lo, 1884:

“ The force and efficiency of our laws to prevent and to
punish frauds in elections depend largely upon the ‘ honest
election ’ law' of 1880, drawn and industriously advocated by
Hon. N. C. Moak of this city. This law, which remedied
so many existing defects, came near being defeated in the
assembly, and would have failed there but for the untiringen-
ergies and parliamentary tactics of ' Old Salt’ (Hon. Thomas
G. Alvord, of Syracuse) who earnestly supported Mr. Moak
in his endeavors to procure its passage. No man in the
state more zealously labored for the election of President
Cleveland than Mr. Moak, and he may well feel a pride in
the efficiency of the ‘ honest election ’ law on the first great
strain to which it has been subjected. Mr. Moak’s recent
article in the Encyclopaedia Americana upon ‘ bribery ’ is
one of the best, if not the best, epitomes of the provisions.

Nathaniel C. Moak.

269

defects and needs of election laws throughout the United
States we know of, and comprises germs for much useful and
much needed legislation.”

Mr. Moak has, in his province, performed as much literary
labor as almost any gentleman of his age in the United
States. In 1869, he edited Clarke’s Chancery Reports, con-
tributing elaborate notes. Speaking of this edition of the
reports, the Messrs. Abbott say, in the preface to their Digest,
“ Much additional value has been given to the collection in
a new edition by N. C. Moak of Albany, who has enriched
nearly all the cases with instructive notes, which bring to-
gether concisely the results of much research and experi-
ence. ” Mr. Wait, in the preface to his Digest, says, A new
edition- edited by Nathaniel C. Moak, Esq., appeared in
1869. Mr. Moak’s notes are very clear, accurate, valuable
and give evidence of great learning and experience.” In
1872, he began the republication of the current English
cases under the title' of “ English Reports,” with elaborate
notes. Thirty-five volumes have been published and circu-
lated extensively in all the states of the Union, giving him a
national reputation as an excellent and learned lawyer. His
criticisms of some of the cases in the courts of his own state
have been approvingly referred to and followed by the
courts of other states in preference to the cases themselves.

In 1873 Mr. Moak edited Van Santvoord’s Pleadings,
bringing the work down to that time, more than doubling
its matter and adding largely to its value. It has remained
the standard in New York and other states which ha^'e
adopted its Code of Procedure. As an instance of its au-
thority in the courts, we quote from the case of Wilson v.
Lawrence^ 8 Hun, 593. ‘‘As the code prescribes no method
of proceeding under this section * * * the practice

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under it, I think, should be that the plaintiff

should have obtained an order of the court, as suggested in
Moak’s Van Santvoord’s Pleadings (p. 358).” The court
of appeals has since approved of the practice laid down by
Mr. Moak (107 New York Reports, 118).

In 1881 Mr. Moak published an edition of Underhill on
Torts, greatly enlarged and extended. He seems to revel
in work, having gratuitously prepared an extensive set of
legal forms, largely used throughout the state. In his lec-
tures to the students of the Albany Law school he prepared
a mass of information for students and the profession which
he voluntarily gave to the profession, and it was, by his con-
sent, published by Messrs. William Gould, Jr., & Co., under
the title of Gould’s Law Catalogue.” It contains a mine
of otherwise inaccessible information, and is one of the most
elaborate and accurate bibliographies ever published. He
has contributed numerous articles to legal and other publi-
cations, among which are the articles “ bribery ” and “ capi-
tal punishment ” in the Encyclopaedia Americana, published
as a supplement to the Britannica. The article upon brib-
ery ” is one of the best and most thoughful which has ever
been published, and has been extensively read and frequently
cited from.

In his early professional life Mr. Moak for several years
edited a country newspaper. He knew the injustice of the
old “ state paper” law which required such a large number
of local advertisements to be published in the state paper
instead of the local press. Accordingly when in 1884, almost
the entire press, outside of Albany county, made a deter-
mined onset to repeal the unjust state paper law,” Mr.
Moak became, by selection of the managers of the bill, its
champion. He made two of his ablest and most learned

Nathaniel C. Moak.

efforts before the committees of the senate and assembly in
favor of the bill and largely contributed to its passage. The
opponents of the bill paid, as they could afford to, counsel
liberally for opposing it. When the friends of the bill pro-
posed to pay Mr. Moak and asked him for the amount of
his claim he replied : —

“ Dear Sir. — Your note at hand. As a citizen of the state
and one of its lawyers I am as much interested as any one
in the passage of just laws and the abolition of unjust ones.

What I did to aid in the repeal of the state paper act was
done with this view. I have been, for years, too generously
treated by the press of our state to consent to turn what I
did from the motive I have stated, into a mere mercenary
act for which I should receive payment. Please say to
those who so effectually aided in bringing about the desired
result, that under no circumstances would I consent to re-
ceive payment for what 1 did. With assurances of my high-
est regards to yourself and your associates, I am,

‘‘ Truly Yours,

“Nathaniel C. Moak.”

Born and reared a farmer’s son, Mr. Moak has retained
his knowledge of the people, and kept close to their hearts.
He is not a politician, if to be one consists in seeking tem-
porary popularity by pandering to the baser passions of
mankind. He is, however, a politician in the higher and
better sense, a statesman. He believes in the right. Re-
peatedly have we heard him say, “ It pays, in the long run
for politicians to do right, and no party or leader can afford,
in the end, to wink at wrong.” On questions of right and
wrong he never temporises. His voice is always for war for
the right, and for no truce with wrong.

2J2

Noted Living Albanian^.

Mr. Moak is a pronounced democrat, though not aggres-
sive in advocating his principles. In 1879 chairman

of the state committee of the anti-Tilden wing of the de-
mocracy. In 1884 he was a warm supporter of Governor
Cleveland for the presidency, taking the stump and making
speeches in all parts of the state. He was one of the most
interesting, cogent and effective speakers of that hard-fought
campaign, doing yeoman service in the cause which he so ar-
dently espoused. His faculty of ‘‘ rubbing in a point ” by
the narration and application of a telling and appropriate
story is remarkable, and adds much to his power as an orator.
He has a high-keyed, rather unpleasant voice, and talks
rapidly and loudly ; his thoughts are quick, and at times seem
to be in advance of his expression, making his sentences
sometimes seem jerky and unfinished. His great power lies
in the labor expended on his cases; in his untiring energy and
zeal ; in his capacity to put himself in the place of his client ;
in the quickness with which he sees and strikes for the salient
points of the case ; and in the remarkable force and concise-
ness with which he wields language to express the most con-
densed and pithy expressions.

He is a great lover of literature, having, at his residence,
a very choice and valuable miscellaneous library, of from
five to six thousand volumes, containing the most valu-
able and useful works upon every science and subject, from
which he seems to draw, at sight, the learning necessary for
any case in which it is required. This library has been se-
lected not on account of antiquity or rarity, but solely with
reference to its practical working value and intrinsic literary
merit. It includes most of the standard works of history,
biography, general literature, fiction, poetry, the drama, art,
architecture, the classics, commerce and manufactures, cy-

Nathaniel C. Moak.

273

clopaedias, eloquence, engineering, mechanics, medicine and
surgery, music and song, natural history, physics, navigation,
philosophy, politics, political economy, railways and railway
management, religion, science, travels, and the usual variety
of a w^ell-selected and useful general library.

Mr. Moak has much, almost a techinal, knowledge of bibli-
ography, and his collection is especially rich in volumes relat-
ing to this subject. Here may be found fine copies of the
works of Dibdin, Watt, Bridges, Brunet, Ebert, Horne,
Lowndes, Allibone, etc. In the department of history, bio-
graphy and general literature there is scarcely an author of
any special merit whose works are not seen on these shelves.
The original or best editions of illustrated volumes of stand-
ard authors, with fine impressions of the plates, are largely
represented ; among which are superb copies of Shakespeare,
Milton, Sir Walter Scott, Burns, Byron, Hogarth, Walpole,
etc. In the best fiction the collection may be said to be com-
plete, containing not only complete editions of Scott, De Foe,
Bulwer, Fielding, Hawthorne, De Quincy, Lewes, Victor
Hugo, Lever, Cooper, Thackeray, Dickens, Eliot, Goethe,
Schiller, Richter, Lover, Balzac, Dumas (father and son),
Halevy, Prevost, etc., but also works like the Arabian
Nights, Villon Society’s (nine volumes), and Lane’s (three
volumes) original editions, with the Villon Tales from the
Arabic (three volumes). Burton’s Supplemental Tales (six
volumes), Don Quixote, Villon Society’s Decameron (three
volumes), Gil Bias, etc.

Mr. Moak is a great admirer of dramatic literature and the
stage. His library is rich in the works of the masters of the
stage and its history. We can notice only a few of these fa-
vorite writers and the condition of Mr. Moak’s copies:
Shakespeare’s Works ; Knight’s pictorial edition, with bio-
35

274

Noted Living Albanians.

graphy, numerous illustrations, 8 vols., royal 8vo, half-crushed
levant morocco, gilt tops, London, 1830. Mr. Moak’s copy
is the original edition, which is now quite rare and com-
mands a high price ; LIudson’s Harvard Shakespeare, 20 vols.,
Verplanck’s edition, profusely illustrated, 3 vols., 8vo, New
York, 1847; Rolfe’s, each play bound in full morocco; the
fac-simile reprints of the quarto plays, 38 vols., each bound
in half morocco ; Furness’ new variorum edition, 8 vols., all
yet published, bound in full morocco ; Staunton’s illustrated
edition, 15 vols., royal octavo, London, 1881, half levant
verbatim reprint of the first edition, 9 vols., large paper,
Edinburgh, 18S3, with the plates in three conditions, full
morocco; White’s 12 vols., original heavy paper edition in
fine tree-calf; Dyce’s edition, 9 vols , London, 1875 ; Halli-
well’s 4 vols., 4V0 ; Boydell’s original edition with magnifi-
cent plates, 9 vols., elephant folio 1802 ; Collier’s Shakespeare,
privately printed (only 58 copies), each play paged separately,
bound in 8 vols., half crushed levant ; Halliwell-Phillips’
outlines of the life of Shakespeare ; Bowden’s Shakespeare
scenes and characters, a series of illustrations, designed by
Adamo, Hofman, Makart, etc., royal 8vo, New York, 1876;
Donnelly’s Great Cryptogram, ed. de luxe, limited, full mo-
rocco ; Dorans Annals of the English Stage (3d ed , 1888)
profusely illustrated, 3 vols., crushed levant ; Lowe’s Theat-
rical Literature, i vol., 1888, crushed levant; Genest’s History
of the English Stage, 9 vols., 1832, half morocco; Play Bills
of the Leland Opera House since 1872 ; Collier’s History of
English Dramatic Poetry to the times of Shakespeare, and
Annals of the Stage to the Restoration, 3 vols., 8vo, London,
1879, ^ beautiful copy; Ireland’s Record of the New York
Stage from 1750 to i860, 2 vols., 4to, large paper, from Brad-
street press, only sixty copies printed in this style, half

Nathaniel C. Moak.

275

crushed levant ; Phelps’ Players of a Century ; a review ot
the Albany stage, including notices of prominent actors who
have appeared in America, Albany, 1880. This is a unique
copy, containing over 150 photographs and many autograph
letters of the most distinguished actors, and is elegantly
bound in full Turkey morocco, gilt edges.

Among the works in other departments of literature in
Mr. Moak’s library is a magnificent set of Ruskin’s works, 60
vols., 8vo, elegantly bound in dark blue calf, London, 1872-
1888 ; Walpole’s Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors
of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with lists of their works, 5
vols., 4to, with original impressions of the plates, a large
paper copy, London, 1806; Walpole’s Anecdotes of Paint-
ing in England, with some account of the principal artists,
3 vols., 8vo, London, 1876. This fine copy contains a double
set of the valuable plates throughout, one set of which are
proofs of the original edition. Another stately volume
worthy of special notice in this collection, is Sir William
Dugdale’s Origines Juridiciales, or historical memorials of the
English law, courts of justice, forms of tryal, punishment
in cases criminal, law-writers, law books, grants and settle-
ments of estates, degree of serjeant, inns of court and chan-
cery, third edition, folio, London, 1680; elegantly bound in
Tull morocco, gilt, with 100 extra plates (portraits) added.

The collection of dictionaries and encyclopaedias is the
largest and most perfect we know of, and embraces the best
editions of every work on the subject, now or formerly of
value. More than seventy different authors are represented
in this department alone. A. fine copy of the original edi-
tion of Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, bound in 3 vols., folio,
at once strikes the eye ; while among many others in
rich binding are Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and

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Mines, 3 vols., and supplement, London, 1878; Knight’s
Mechanical Dictionary, illustrated with over 700 engravings,
3 vols., royal 8vo, and supplement. New York, 1877 5 Apple-
ton’s Cyclopaedia of Applied Mechanics, 2 vols., royal 8vo,
New York, 1880; Gwilt’s Encyclopaedia of Architecture,
thick 8vo, London, 1871 ; the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
ninth edition, 25 vols., 4to, London, 1875-88; Appleton’s
American Cyclopaedia, revised edition ; Appleton’s Annuals ;
Americana; English Encyclopaedia; Schaff and Herzog’s
Religious Encyclopaedia ; Kiddle and Schem’s Cyclopaedia
of Education ; Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political
Economy, and United States History, etc. The collection
of works upon the politics of the country and works for
reference are very complete and valuable. Mr. Moak’s
editions are of the best, those of British authors usually
English. The bindings are all in calf or half calf, and
morocco or half morocco, by the best binders — • Matthews,
Tout, Mansell, Reviere, etc. The arrangement of volumes
is by subjects, alphabetically. This, with an excellent and
thorough catalogue, both by authors and subjects, enables
the possessor at once to select the best works upon any
subject under consideration. Take it all in all, it is the
most useful private library we ever saw.

GEORGE S. MUNSON, M. D.

An ALBANIAN who, by his talents and energy, has
already risen to eminence in a special department of
science, is Dr. George S. Munson, ophthalmologist and aurist.
Born in the village of Waterford, Saratoga county, N. Y., on
the 4th of April, 1856, he passed his infancy there. He is
the son of Stephen Munson and Unice A. Munson, who
were highly respected citizens of Albany. On his mother’s
side he is a direct descendant of the celebrated theologian
and metaphysician. Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Northamp-
ton, Mass., and afterward president of Princeton college.
New Jersey. His mother was a native of Westfield, Mass.,
and possessed many of the ennobling qualities which have
distinguished the women of the old Bay State. She died in
March, 1886, at New Orleans, while traveling for her health
with her youngest son. The parents of Dr. Munson removed
to Albany when he was scarcely two years old. Here his
father was then in the shoe manufacturing business on
Broadway, and soon established the largest concern of its
kind in the city. It continued to flourish from year to
year, commanding a large patronage both in and out of the
city. Here the tender years of Dr. Munson were spent
under the parental roof, with the careful attention and in-
struction of loving and intelligent parents, who took a pride

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in witnessing the budding of his young life unfold into man-
hood. Observing with interest and gratification his taste
for books when a child, his parents determined to give him
all the advantages of a good education within their power.
He was first sent to a private school, and afterward placed
under the care of a private tutor at home. He was soon
prepared for the higher public school No. 2, on State street,
from which he graduated in 1868. His young and ardent
desires for literary instructions on a broader scale were more
fully gratified when, in 1870, he entered the Albany Free
academy, then on State street, in a building which is now
used as a dancing school. Here the boy of twelve years
pursued his studies with zest. His mind was wrapped up
in his school-books, not in the usual sports of the majority
of boys of the town. He found his pleasure and even re-
creation in trying to master the contents of his text-books.
His especially favorite study was that of elocution, in which
he made steady and commendable progress, his declama-
tions showing careful study and graceful delivery.

After four years of very hard study at this academy,
young Munson graduated with high honor, and was regarded
as the best speaker in the institution. He never lost his in-
terest in elocution, and has since spoken before different
literary societies and in various churches. On leaving the
free academy he was thoroughly prepared for a. collegiate
course. Princeton college, of which his mother’s ancestor^
Jonathan Edwards, was chosen to the presidency in 1757,
and of which the Rev. Dr. McCosh was now the president,
was selected by the parents of Dr. Munson, and accordingly
the young man, in 1874, at the age of 16, entered that ven-
erable, historic institution, with a cheerful heart and lofty
purposes. There during four years, he pursued the usual

George S. Munson, M. D.

279

college curriculum with the enthusiasm of a devoted student,
and the success which follows a careful and persevering in-
vestigation of the wide fields of literature and science.
Study, to him, was no toilsome work, but around it were
thrown many irresistible charms. He delighted to live
among books and breathe the atmosphere of the intellectual
world, while at the same time he was not insensible to the
beauties of nature around him or the wondrous manifesta-
tions of her powers. While at college, attending to his
regular studies he continued to cultivate his taste for elo-
quence and a polished style of English composition.

In 1876 — the centennial year — he took the first college
prize in oratory, a handsome gold medal, devised by Tiffany
& Co., N. Y., and valued at $50. The title of his oration
on that occasion was “The Spirit of ’76; no Taxation
Without Representation.” It is said to have contained a
vivid presentation of the just cause of the struggling pa-
triots and of the wrongs inflicted on them by Great Britain,
and to have been delivered with great force and patriotic
fervor. It was much applauded by the college faculty, stu-
dents and others who were present, and at once established
the reputation of young Munson as an earnest and graceful
speaker. While at Princeton he also took a deep interest
in the more profound course of study on Biblical criticism
and philosophy, instituted by Dr. McCosh, whose lectures
and class examinations were so thorough and instructive.
And so high were his attainments in this sacred department
of study, that on his graduation he took the Bible prize,
offered by Dr. McCosh, for the best Bible student.

The choice of his profession was now more plainly indi-
cated, and during, the last years of his collegiate course at
Princeton, he devoted himself more particularly to the study

28o

Noted Living Albanians.

of medicine under the direction of his brother, Dr. Frank A.
Munson. By this means he shortened his regular medical
college course by one year. Besides his general academical
and collegiate studies his tastes from a boy also ran in
the direction of medical science, and when a mere lad he
loved the elementary study of anatomy and kindred sciences,
trying his hand in dissecting animals, birds, insects, etc.
He entered the Albany Medical college in 1878, and gradu-
ated from that institution in 1880. During his terms of
medical instruction he was a student of Dr. Van der Veer,
and particularly of Dr. Snow, whose profound and masterly
teachings were of great advantage to him in after life. After
his graduation, the late lamented Dr. Snow, as well as Dr.
Van der Veer, continued to manifest a deep interest in his
success, often sending him patients and assisting him in
various other ways in his profession.

Shortly after receiving his medical diploma, his brother,
Dr. Frank A. Munson, died. He was an accomplished ocu-
list and aurist, and on his death left his valuable books and
instruments to George, who now thought it to be his duty
to take up the study of the special department in medical
science in which his brother was engaged. And for the pur-
pose of finishing his education in this department he went
to New York and entered Dr. Knapp’s excellent ophthalmic
and aural institute on Twelfth street. After six months of
close study and observation. Dr. Knapp made him his first
assistant, and in this capacity he* remained at the institution
nearly two years, doing a great deal of fine and difficult
work, especially in microscopic examinations, and in descrip-
tions of the diseases of the eye and of the ear. In order to
perfect as far as possible his studies in this new chosen ‘field
for life work. Dr. Munson while in New York at this time,

George S. Munson, M. D.

took a special course of instruction under Drs. Noyes and
Agnew, both so eminent as specialists.

At the very time when Dr. Munson had fully completed
his medicinal course, in 1882, his father’s establishment was
burned down, entailing a heavy pecuniary loss, and it be-
came necessary for the young graduate to go to work with
all his energy for himself. To him his father’s loss was
probably a blessing in disguise, for it called forth all his pro-
fessional resources into greater activity. He first opened
an office at 138 State street in 1882, where he carried on his
practice for about a year, when he removed to 47 Eagle
street, occupying the office of Dr. Stevens, who had recently
changed his residence to New York city. In 1885 Dr. Mun-
son returned to his former place, No. 138 State street, at-
tending closely to his private practice, and filling the posi-
tions of ophthalmic surgeon to St. Peter’s hospital, Albany,
ophthalmic and aural surgeon to the Schenectady hospital
and dispensary, and assistant surgeon in the Albany City
hospital. Having purchased the desirable house No. 30
Eagle str'eet, he removed there with his family on the ist of
May, 1889.

On the death of Dr. Robertson of Albany, Dr. Munson
purchased his entire library, which contains a large collec-
tion of ophthalmic and aural books, some of which are ex-
ceedingly I'are, one set of ten volumes alone costing $300.

Dr. Munson is a member of the Fort Orange club and of
the Albany Medical Library and Journal association. He
is a frequent contributor to the medical literature especially
relating to his chosen department, and is the author of treat-
ises on “ The Removal of Foreign Bodies from the Interior
of the Eye by the use of the Magnet,” “ Use and Abuse of
Astringents in Eye Diseases,” ‘'Contagious Ophthalmia

282 Noted Living Albanians.

with History of Cases,” ‘‘ Abscess of the Middle Ear with
Brain Abscess, Death and Autopsy,” “ Cold Applications in
Eye Diseases,” etc. His knowledge of all the various
branches of human learning is also quite extensive, the re-
sult of close, studious application from early youth.

Dr. Munson’s practice has increased till to-day it is one of
the largest in his special line of work in the city. His prac-
tice is also largely drawn from the neighboring country. He
is pleasing in his manners, courteous and gentlemanly in his
attention to patients, and skillful in his treatment of the
many different ailments of the eye and ear which come
under his care.

In 1884, Dr. Munson married Miss May S. Downing, the
accomplished daughteiqof George S. Downing, Esq., a law-
yer and prominent citizen of Albany. By this union he has
one child, a boy, who was born on the 31st of March, 1888.

SAMUEL LYMAN MUNSON.

IT IS both interesting and profitable to trace the pros-
perous career of men of enterprise in our midst, whose
highest aim is to keep abreast with the progressive com-
mercial spirit of the day and to develop or carry on some
important branch of industry. Of this class we have a nota-
ble example in the following portraiture of Samuel L. Mun-
son, the well-known manufacturer 'in Hudson avenue — a
man of uncommon pluck, courage, executive ability and
untiring perseverance in his business undertakings.

He was born on the 14th of June, 1844, the town that
is now known as Huntington, Mass. He belongs to the
old Puritan race that did so much toward the establishment,
civilization and growth of New England as well as other
portions of this broad land of free institutions. His father,
Garry Munson, was a man of noble impulses and remarkable
industry — a descendant in the eighth generation in America
from old Thomas Munson, who came to this country in 1621,
a year after the landing of the Pilgrim fathers at Plymouth
Rock, and who was one of the founders of New Haven,
Conn., just two hundred and fifty-one years ago.

Garry Munson married Harriet Lyman, a descendant of
Richard Lyman, another dauntless Puritan who crossed the
Atlantic in a frail vessel, and who, as early as the year 1635,

284

Noted Living Albanians.

was among that heroic little band of pioneers that started
out from the city of Boston in search of new settlements.
Pushing their way through dense forests where perhaps the
foot of the white man had never trod, infested by wild, fero-
cious animals, where the Indian war whoop was heard and
the dreaded tomahawk gleamed in dark recesses, the}^ at
last reached the shores of the Connecticut river, and founded
the now flourishing city of Hartford. Around those daring
pioneers the thick, tall old trees soon began to fall before
their sturdy blows, and rich landscapes were opened to their
delighted view. Rude log cabins were first built in great
numbers which in subsequent generations were to be re-
placed by stately buildings, when the wheels of industry
were to be fully set in motion, and the tide of commerce
was to flow in ever-increasing volume. A man of more than
ordinary intelligence, strict integrity, fine business qualifica-
tions, Garry Munson was very popular among his old Mass-
achusetts fellow-citizens, who honored him with various offi-
ces of public trust,” of a state and local nature. He pos-
sessed a mind of great vigor and comprehensiveness, which
enabled him to carry on successfully, at the same time, the
work of a farmer, a dealer in wool, and a manufacturer. In
his moral and religious principles, and in his just and hon-
orable dealings with his fellow men he was a good represent-
ative of those liberty-loving men who, driven by persecution
for conscience sake from the old world, first sought an
asylum in the wild forests of America. He succeeded in se-
curing an ample store of the good things of this life, and
after reaching the allotted period of “ three-score years and
ten,” passed calmly away, leaving a fragrant name and the
marks of a true nobility, which his descendants will always
be proud to cherish.

Samuel L. Munson.

285

The parents of Samuel L. Munson spared no pains in
training him up in right ways and industrious habits, and in
giving him all the educational advantages available. At a
tender age he was sent to the common school of his neigh-
borhood, and when he grew older performed the usual man-
ual labor of boys on his father’s farm. But his parents, dis-
covering that his tastes lay rather in the line of business
than that of farming, determined to give their boy a chance
to become an accomplished business man ; and as a prelim-
inary course of training they sent him at the age of twelve to
the Williston seminary at East Hampton, Massachusetts, de-
lightfully located in the midst of fine landscapes in view of
the old villages of Northampton, Hadley and Amherst, with
Mt. Holyoke and Mt. Tom rising in grandeur in the dis-
tance. There young Munson passed 'three years as a dili-
gent and successful student under excellent teachers, and
much pleased with the charming natural scenery around
him. On leaving this seminary at the age of fifteen, he
sought and obtained a situation as a clerk in a first-class dry
goods store in Boston, where he remained two years, gaining
-a practical knowledge of trade in its various departments,
and laying the foundation of a substantial mercantile career.
But the close confinement and hard work in the store, with
the lack of sufficient outdoor exercise soon began to tell
upon a constitution not at any time the most robust, and he
was obliged to relinquish his clerkship, return home and try
by regular daily exercise on the farm to regain his failing
strength. This change had the desired effect, and after ?
year of farm life his health was re-established. And now
again the thoughts of a mercantile life began to fill his youth-
full imagination with pleasing anticipations of future success
in the same calling. With an enterprise characteristic of his

286

Noted Living Albanians.

ancestors, he left home and came to Albany, where he soon
obtained a situation as a commercial traveller in the store of
Messrs. Wickes & Strong, manufacturers of clothing, his
territory lying principally in the west. In this new field of
labor, for which he was admirably fitted by natural tastes and
gifts, he met with unexpected success in selling goods, while
at the same time his health was greatly benefited by fre-
quent trips through the country and breathing its pure, in-
vigorating air.

In 1 867, after an experience of four years in this special line
of trade, Mr. Munson, in connection with Messrs. J. A. Rich-
ardson and L. R. Dwight, two young Albanians, established a
linen collar manufactory, under the firm name of Munson,
Richardson & Co. Two years later this partnership was
finally dissolved, by the retirement of Messrs. Richardson
and Dwight, when Mr. Munson boldly and energetically
carried on the business alone and became master of the sit-
uation. He now began to show more fully his rare, wide-
awake and superior business qualities by reorganizing his
new concern on a solid and enlarged basis, and continuing it
with a success that was truly remarkable at a time when
such an enterprise was only beginning to be developed and
pushed in this city.

Mr. Munson at first continued his manufacturing business
on a small scale at different places, in Broadway and in Green
street, but his trade increased so rapidly that in a few years
it became necessary for him to look around for larger ac-
commodations to do justice to the requirements of his work.
In 1884 he made a grand, successful venture by the purchase
of the old Hudson Avenue Methodist church, remodeling and
enlarging it into a superb building, most suitable for the
manufacture of shirts, collars, cuffs, lace goods, handker-

Samuel L. Munson.

287

chiefs, etc., on the largest scale. A brief description of this
imposing edifice, one of the largest of the kind in the Union,
may be appropriately introduced here. The building is 140
feet by 68 feet, four stories in height, constructed of pressed
brick, the dome roof of the old church alone being retained,
and occupies a lot lOO feet by 140 feet running from Hudson
avenue to Plain street. On the first floor are the offices and
warerooms, most conveniently and tastefully arranged. Mr.
Munson’s private office on this floor is fitted. up in a beauti-
ful and artistic manner in oak, with fine spruce ceilings and
furnished with excellent taste. The sample office and stock-
room occupies the entire length of the first floor south of the
main offices, in which are systematically arranged in hand-
some boxes and packages thousands of dozens of shirts, col-
lars, cuffs, etc. The cutting-room, which occupies the entire
second floor, and the stitching-room on the third floor, where
hundreds of female operatives are busily engaged, are espe-
cially interesting to visitors who wish to see work rapidly and
extensively carried on by the industrious hands of women.

On the 2ist of December, 1885, this entire building,
splendidly illuminated, was thrown open to the inspection
of the public in the presence of large numbers of business
men, citizens and strangers. The various departments of
this great factory are in charge of skillful and competent
persons, and there every thing moves on with a .system as
“methodical as clock work.” As an organizer to plan and
conduct a business of such magnitude, Mr. Munson has but
few equals and no superiors in the city of Albany. From
very small beginnings he has gradually built up a business
of vast dimensions, which fully illustrates the fine sentiment
of his trade mark, — “ Great oaks from little acorns grow.”

Mr. Munson employs from four to five hundred hands in

288

Noted Living Albanians.

his factory, and his goods, which are manufactured from the
best materials, find a ready sale in almost every part of the
United States, while he fills numerous orders from abroad.

He is one of the trustees of the Home Savings bank of
Albany, a member of the board of trustees of the chamber
of commerce and chairman of the committee on manu-
factures, etc., treasurer of Thepure Baking Powder Co., and
is also identified with some of the literary, masonic, athletic
and social organizations of the city. With all his pressing
business concerns he is a lover of literature, and devotes
many a spare moment to the perusal of valuable books
and periodicals, of which he has a choice selection. And
thus in the walks of an active business career and in general
intelligence he is spending a life, now scarcely in its prime,
which must command the respect and esteem of all good
citizens as supremely devoted to one of the business interests
of Albany.

In personal appearence Mr. Munson is of about the med-
ium size, with dark hair and an expression indicative of a
thorough knowledge of human nature, winning in his man-
ners, sympathetic in his nature, strict in his integrity, fair
and honorable in his dealings, and withal, a full confidence
in his own ability to manage the affairs of a large business,
in the improvement and steady growth of which his active
mind is daily absorbed. In addition to his extensive and
varied works here he erected in the spring of 1889
another shirt factory at Cobleskill, N. Y., for an equip-
ment of two hundred more sewing machines. In 1868, Mr.
Munson married Miss Susan B. Hopkins, daughter of Lem-
uel J. Hopkins of Albany. They have a family of six chil-
dren, four sons and two daughters, and his enjoyment of
domestic life is peaceful, serene and happy.

DAVID MURRAY.

ONE of the most accomplished scholars and educators
of our city and country is Dr. David Murray. Born
in Bovina, Delaware county, N. Y., on the 15th of October,
1830, his earliest years were spent amidst the grand, rugged,
picturesque scenery of his native place. He is of Scottish
descent, his parents being William Murray and Jean (Black)
Murray, natives of Ecclefechan, Scotland. In 1818 they
emigrated to the United States of America. Possessing the
sterling qualities of true, intelligent Scotch people, and im-
pressed with the great value of education in its broadest
sense, both moral and intellectual, they determined to give
their children all the advantages of an education which lay
in their power. Accordingly David, the subject of our
sketch, was sent at a very early age to the district school of
his rural home, and at the age of twelve we find him in the
academy at Delhi, pursuing his studies with increasing in-
terest and delight. He left this academy to engage in a
brief business career, which was not so congenial to him as
the calmer walks of science and literature. At the Fergu-
sonville academy he was prepared for a collegiate course ;
and in 1849, l^^e age of nineteen, he entered the sophomore
class of Union college, then in the days of its great pros-
perity and popularity under the presidency of Dr. Nott,
37

290

Noted Living Albanians.

when students from all parts of the United States were at-
tracted to its justly renowned halls. And here during three
years young Murray was a most careful and devoted stu-
dent, pursuing his college curriculum with the greatest
pleasure, and laying the foundation of his future usefulness
and eminence as an educator.

In 1852 he graduated from Union college. Among his
classmates were Silas B. Brownell, now a lawyer in New
York city ; Dr. T. P. Seeley, now of Chicago ; Allen Wright,
formerly governor of the Choctaw nation; Dr. James Dema-
rest, and others who have become prominent in church or
state. After graduating, Mr. Murray’s superior intellectual
qualifications were not long to remain unrecognized. He
received an invitation from the trustees of the Albany acad-
emy to become one of its teachers. Accepting the propo-
sition, he entered at once upon the work of teaching mathe-
matics and natural philosophy in the year 1853. For the
laborious duties of this professorship he was admirably quali-
fied, for he inherited the well-known traits of the educated
Scotchman, excelling principally in the knowledge of mathe-
matics, philosophy and logic. His career as a professor in
the Albany academy was so highly successful that in 1857 he
became its principal. In this position he succeeded the Rev.
Dr. William A. Miller, who, as professor of languages, took
the place of Dr. Peter Bullions, a man whose scholarly attain-
ments and rare Christian virtues will not soon be forgotten.

Mr. Murray was principal of the Albany academy during
a period of six years. Under his principalship the academy
attained a degree of prosperity which has never been sur-
passed, and many young men received the training which
fitted them to enter upon careers of great usefulness and
prominence.

David Murray.

291

In 1863 Mr. Murray was chosen professor of mathematics
and astronomy in Rutgers college, New Jersey, where a still
wider field for his varied knowledge was afforded. He en-
tered upon the duties of his new professorship with great
earnestness, and his reputation as a successful teacher and
educational organizer was speedily recognized.

It was while a professor at Rutgers college, where many
of the Japanese students were receiving their education,
that Mr. Murray became deeply interested in the education
of Japan. At this time he prepared an able paper on this
subject, for the volume of Japanese education which Mr.
Mori, the acting minister from that country, had published
by the Messrs. Appleton of New York This paper excited
so much interest that Dr. Murray was called into consulta-
tion by the members of the embassy sent from Japan to in-
vestigate the governments of western nations. His views
on education met with such approval from the members of
the embassy that he was invited to accept the position of
educational adviser to the Japanese government. He ac-
cepted the mission, and sailed for Japan in the spring of
1873. There he devoted himself to the work of organizing
a national system of education. Highly appreciating his ser-
vices in this department, the Japanese government sent him
to the Philadelphia centennial exhibition in 1876, to attend
to its educational interests. And here, in connection with
the Japanese officials, he made extensive collections of mate=
rials for the museums of that country. Returning to Japan
in the autumn of 1876, he continued in the service of the
government until the winter of 1879. the resignation

of his position at that time, he was honored with every testk
monial of respect that the government could bestow, the
emperor conferring on him the decoration of the Rising Sun.

292

Noted Living Albanians.

On his return to the United States, he was, in 1880, chosen
secretary of the board of regents of the university of the
state of New York. This board in the state of New York
has charge of the academies and colleges and also is intrusted
with the care of the state library and the state museum.
The multiform duties of this position he performed with sig-
nal ability and success. He continued to hold it till the
winter of 1888-9, when he resigned.

Dr. Murray published a Manual of Land Surveying,”
while in Rutgers college. He also prepared the interesting
volume on Japanese education for the Philadelphia exhibi-
tion. He took an active part in laying before congress the
facts in regard to the Japanese indemnity, which was ulti-
mately returned. In 1881 and 1882 he contributed a large
portion of the material on education to the third volume of
the “ Public Service of the State of New York.” Dr. Mur-
ray has also written and published various papers and ad-
dresses on educational subjects. In 1863 he received the
honorary degree of doctor of philosophy from the regents of
the state of New York. In 1873 the degree of doctor of laws
was conferred upon him by Rutgers college, as was also the
same degree by Union college in 1874.

For his supreme devotion to literature, science, and the
fine arts, his faithful and unremitting labors in promoting
the cause of higher education, his fine scholarship and rare
executive abilities, his genial personal manners and strict in-
tegrity, Dr. David Murray is highly respected and honored,
not only by Albanians, but by the country at large.

Dr. Murray is a brother of the late Judge Murray, of
Delhi, who was so widely known for his fine legal attain-
ments and noble qualities of the head and heart. In 1867
Dr. Murray married Miss Martha Neilson of New York city.

WILLIS S. PAINE

IN THE exacting, complicated, and responsible duties
connected with the history and oversight of banking
institutions in our state no man has gained a more exalted
reputation or been more generally commended for his offi-
cial acts than the subject of this sketch. His public ser-
vices are well known, even beyond the limits of our own
state, and his career is replete with interest to banking men
and financiers.

Born in Rochester, N. Y., on the ist of January, 1848, he
spent his childhood in that beautiful city ; growing up under
the tender and watchful care of cultured and highly es-
teemed parents.

His ancestry is of the enterprising, solid and patriotic
New England stock. Robert Treat Paine, one of the sign-
ers of the declaration of independence was a member of this
old family. Willis S. is a son of Nicholas E. Paine, who
was a distinguished lawyer of Rochester, and who on ac-
count of his forensic ability was elected district attorney of
Monroe county, while yet a young man. In later life he
held the offices of mayor and president of the board of edu-
cation in Rochester. His mother’s maiden name was Abby
M. Sprague, a descendant of the old governors, Bradford
and Prince, famous in the colonial history of Massachusetts.

294 Noted Living Albanians,

In 1885 Nicholas E. Paine and his wife Abby celebrated
their golden wedding in true New England style, surrounded
by their children, relatives of the family and cherished
friends.

Besides the subject of this sketch, they had a daughter,
Mrs. Wallace Darrow, and a son. Dr. Oakman S. Paine, who
has gained a wide celebrity as a skillful surgeon in New
York city. In 1887, Mr. Nicholas E. Paine, full of years
and rich in honors, departed this life, holding at the time of
his death the presidency of the Dakota Railroad Company.
His aged companion still lingers in the twilight of a serene
and well-spent life. Robert Treat Paine, an uncle of the
late bank superintendent was an able and accomplished law-
yer, and for many years one of the shining lights of the Bos-
ton bar.

In the year 1862 young Willis S. Paine entered the Roch-
ester Collegiate institute. With an ardent temperament,
showing a genuine love for books, and a supreme desire to
rise in the scale of learning, he became from the first a dili-
gent student, believing with Lord Bacon that “ the pleasure
and delight of knowledge and learning far surpasseth all
other in nature,” and impressed with the fine sentiment of
Addison, “ What sculpture is to a block of marble, educa-
tion is to the human soul.”

When he graduated from Rochester Collegiate institute
he was chosen valedictorian of his class. Intending to com-
plete his collegiate course at Williams college, he entered
the sophomore class in that excellent institution, but find-
ing the winter too severe for his rather delicate constitution,
he returned home, and immediately entered the sophomore
class of the Rochester university, where he continued his
studies, graduating with honor in the class of 1868.

Willis S. Paine.

295

Before leaving the halls of the university there was one
subject which was particularly engaging his attention, to
which his genius naturally inclined him, and which filled his
youthful imagination with pleasing thoughts of the future.
This was the study of the law; and so eager was he to
speedily prepare himself for this profession that before re-
ceiving his college diploma he became a law student in the
office of Sanford E. Church, afterward chief judge of the
court of appeals. Under the instruction and advice of that
profound lawyer, most estimable man and accomplished
scholar, he was firmly grounded in the fundamentals of legal
science. In 1868 his father removed to New York city, and
our young law student was again fortunate in continuing his
studies in the ofifice of another eminent counselor and ad-
vocate, the late Charles A. Rapallo, also one of the judges
of the court of appeals. In the spring of 1869 Mr. Paine
was admitted to the bar, and for some time practiced his
profession in the office of Judge Rapallo.

But another and very important field was soon to be
opened to our young lawyer, into which he was well quali-
fied to enter, and where he has won his highest laurels. In
1874, when the legislature passed a law authorizing the bank
superintendent to cause annual examinations to be made of
the trust companies of the state, Mr. Paine was appointed
by the superintendent as one of the three examiners. It
was a work in which from the first he took the deepest in-
terest and showed the most careful, thorough and fruitful
research. The examination resulted in the closing of three
trust companies in the city of New York, which owed de-
positors six million dollars. These depositors were subse-
quently paid in full, and the public press praised Mr, Paine
for the successful accomplishment of so grand a result. He

296

Noted Living Albanians.

also made the examinations of the same corporations the
succeeding year.

In 1876, the doors of the Bond Street Savings bank, one
of the largest institutions of the kind in this country, were
closed by order of the court. This failure created no little
excitement, especially among commercial circles in the city
of New York and caused much pecuniary distress. Mr.
Paine’s success as a lawyer and a bank examiner was such
that on the recommendation of the attorney-general and the
bank superintendent he was appointed by Judge Landon,
at Schenectady, as receiver of the insolvent concern. After
a thorough investigation of the transactions of this bank
from the date of its organization and the successful issue of
the suits brought against the trustees of the institution for
losses incurred (for certain acts, while not made with wrong-
ful intent, were unauthorized), Mr. Paine succeeded at the
close of his receivership in 1873 in paying the general credit-
ors 86-| per cent, while the preferred creditors were paid in
full. The amount paid him by the trustees in the settle-
ment of those suits was one hundred and thirteen thousand
five hundred dollars ; while the whole sum received and dis-
bursed in the winding up of the affairs of the bank, was
nearly thirteen hundred thousand dollars — showing, we be-
lieve, the largest percentage ever paid in the history of any
savings bank receiver in the country. Mr. Paine was, a
short time before the end of his receivership, the recipient
of an engrossed series of complimentary resolutions signed
by the members of a permanent committee. Most deser-
vedly and gracefully did the court recognize the ser-
vices of Mr. Paine in that long and tedious warfare,
in which so many nice legal points were involved, by
stating “ that the duties of this trust have been admin-

Willis S. Paine.

297

istered by the receiver with rare diligence, fidelity and
discretion.”

Having devoted so much time to the study of the bank-
ing laws — their excellences and their defects, and how they
should be amended so as to be administered on a solid basis,
Mr. Paine had but few equals and no superior in the state in
a correct and comprehensive knowledge of the banking sys-
tem and its proper workings. Accordingly, his services
were sought after in the solving of other great questions in-
volving banking operations, and when the legislature of 1880
passed an act for the appointment of commissioners “ to
make a compilation and revision of the laws of the state
affecting banks and banking,” Mr. Paine and William Dowd,
president of the Bank of North America, were appointed by
Gov. Cornell to perform this arduous work. The revision
which they prepared was adopted by the legislature of 1882,
and their valuable services, rendered without pecuniary com-
pensation, were acknowledged in an appreciative resolution
of thanks, adopted by the following legislature.

Gov. Cleveland, in April, 1883, nominated Mr. Paine as
superintendent of the banking department of this state.
The nomination was unanimously and immediately con-
firmed by the senate. In the discharge of the duties per-
taining to the office of superintendent of the banking de-
partment, Mr. Paine has displayed a zeal and an executive
ability highly creditable in an official whose best endeavor
is to serve the material interests of the state in his depart-
ment, in the way of making crooked places straight ’’ and
“ rough places plain.” His clear conception and compre-
hensive grasp of what should constitute the true practical
workings of a correct system in the management of banks
and other state moneyed institutions, and his skill and per-

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sistence in enforcing these rules and regulations, have caused
his name to become a high authority through the country
in his own special department.

Asa writer Mr. Paine has contributed much useful infor-
mation, tending to elucidate his favorite studies and investi-
gations. His large work on “ Banks, Banking and Trust
Companies,” the preparation of which was a difficult task,
involving very arduous labor, is written in a masterly style
— lucid in arrangement and thoroughly exhaustive of its
subject — and is recognized as a production of standard value.
A treatise on the law regulating building associations has
recently been written by Mr. Paine, and has just been pub-
lished in the city of New York.

Mr. Paine has also written largely for legal and financial
magazines, and all his literary efforts bear the mark of a
scholarly hand, seeking to strengthen and solidify the insti-
tutions under his charge, and thus favoring the welfare of
business communities, by a just and uniform application of
the banking laws now in force.

In April, 1883, President Cleveland offered Mr. Paine the
position of sub-treasurer in the city of New York, which, on
account of its close confinement, he was led to decline. In
June, 1886, at its annual commencement, Manhattan college
conferred upon him the degree of doctor of laws. He is a
member of the bar associations of the city and state of New
York, the Tuxedo, Commonwealth, Manhattan, Phi Beta
Kappa clubs of the metropolis, the president of the Theta
Delta Chi Graduate association.

On the 5th of April, 1888, Mr. Paine married Miss Ruby
S. Tilden, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of the
late Henry A. Tilden of New Lebanon Springs, and a niece

Willis S. Paine.

299

of ex-Gov. Samuel J. Tilden. The wedding was a brilliant
affair. Mr. and Mrs. Paine now reside at the Windsor hotel,
New York, where they have a large circle of appreciative
and cultured friends.

During the fall of the year last past Mr. Paine resigned
the bank superintendency, having held that office nearly
twice as long as any one of his predecessors and accepted
the position of president of a new banking corporation or-
ganized in the city of New York under the title of “The
State Trust Company.” This corporation began business
with a capital of one million and a surplus of five hundred
thousand dollars and it is almost needless to add has been
exceedingly successful.

He is of a tall, slender, commanding, dignified personal
appearance, with a smooth face, reflecting a clear and com-
prehensive intellect, a mind highly cultured and refined,
evincing marks of deep thought, a genial, sympathetic spirit,
and social qualities of a high order.

AMASA J. PARKER,

An ALBANIAN of high intellectual qualities, who has
passed his four-score years, and who has been a resi-
dent of this city for forty-four years, adorning its history by
distinguished public service and private virtues is the Hon.
Amasa J. Parker. He is a true representative of those en-
terprising New England pioneers who came from their old
homes to aid in the development of the then new state of
New York and the great western territories. Away back
amidst the howling wilderness, where the cheering rays of
the sun scarcely ever beamed upon their humble log cabins,
they lived and toiled for the good of their country, their
families, and their cherished civil and religious institutions.

Judge Parker’s ancestors were among those who defended
their homes from the invasion of the red men during the old
French and English wars, when many a deed of horrid
ciuelty was enacted by the savages — when the tomahawk
and scalping-knife in the hands of murderous foes gleamed
through the thick forests, and when fears prevailed on every
side, through the light of day and the darkness of night.
And when the declaration of American independence was
proclaimed, those worthy ancestors were found fighting on
the side of the colonists in defense of the just rights of free
men ; and they laid not down their arms until this new re-

Amasa J. Parker.

301

public was established, and the goddess of liberty forever
enshrined in the hearts of the American people.

Thomas Fenn, the maternal grandfather of Judge Par-
ker, was a resident of Watertown, Conn., and for more
than thirty sessions he represented his town in the state
legislature, closing a long and useful life with the highest
esteem of his fellow-citizens.

It appears by Kirby’s Reports, page 62, that he was en-
gaged in administering justice in that state in the earliest
days of its organization.

On the 2d of June, 1807, Amasa J. Parker, the subject of
our sketch, was born at Ellsworth, town of Sharon, Litchfield
county, Conn. Here his father, the Rev. Daniel Parker, a
graduate of Yale, was an earnest and devoted minister of
the Congregational church, where he labored over twenty
years. He was moreover extensively acquainted with vari-
ous branches of learning outside of his chosen profession,
and was particularly an accomplished classical scholar. It
is many years since his remains were borne to their last rest-
ing place, but still his memory is devoutly cherished by his
distinguished son.

In the year 1816 the elder Parker removed with his family
to this state, where he became a distinguished and success-
ful teacher. His son Amasa was then a lad of nine years,
and under the instructions of his father was taught the rudi-
ments of learning, while other professors and teachers as-
sisted in the development of his intellectual powers and in
the completion of a most thorough education. He was pre-
pared in a full college course of study, and in the summer
of 1825 passed an examination on the whole course at Union
college and received his degree with the class of that year.
His early proficiency in knowledge was mainly due to his

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natural taste, his real love of books, his close mental appli-
cation, and 'the teachings of a learned and painstaking
father. Two years before receiving his collegiate degree he
was chosen principal of the academy in the city of Hudson,
N. Y., a high mark of literary honor for a youth of sixteen
and one that was well merited. He retained this position
four years, and was one of the youngest and most successful
principals that ever took charge of a literary institution in
this country.

It was during this period that the taste, and inclination of
young Parker for the study of the law were unmistakably
unfolded ; and to gratify his desires in this direction he re-
signed his principalship in 1827 and entered more fully upon
his favorite pursuit. And so speedily did he acquire a gen-
eral knowledge of the elementary principles of legal science
in the office of his uncle, Amasa Parker, a distinguished
counselor of Delhi, N. Y., that he was admitted to the bar
in 1828, at the age of twenty-one. Promisingly opened his
legal career — a career which for sixty years has reflected
honor upon himself and the profession he loves so well. On
admission to practice he immediately entered into partner-
ship with his uncle ; and the firm of A. & A. J. Parker, of
Delhi soon became widely known throughout the state. The
firm did a large amount of business — larger, perhaps, than
any other country office in the state.

Fully equipped by previous thorough training for the du-
ties of his profession, and with a heart devoted to his work,
our rising young lawyer closely attended the circuits of
Delaware, Greene, Ulster, Schoharie, Broome and other
counties of the state, as well as the stated terms of the old
court of chancery and the supreme court. And so active
and diligent was he in his professional work that, at the

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303

time of his appointment to the bench in 1844, he was said
to have tried more cases at the circuit than any other law-
yer of his age in the state. By his great industry and his
remarkable promptness, never failing to keep his appoint-
ments, always ready for work or warfare,'’ he was enabled
to perform to the advantage of his clients, a vast amount of
legal work. His constantly-growing reputation as an able
advocate and an upright citizen naturally called for the ex-
ercise of his talents in other fields of human activity. From
his youth up he was familiar with political science as he was
with the law. And his early ambition was to entrench him-
self within the strongholds of democracy.

He has earnestly and often advocated the cause of the
old Jeffersonian principles since the year 1828 when he cast
his first ballot for Andrew Jackson, who was that year elec-
ted president of the United States.

In the autumn of 1833 democratic party nominated
him for member of assembly from Delaware county ; and
such was his popularity with all classes of citizens that he
was chosen to the legislature without opposition. In the
assembly he manifested the same energy of character, di-
rectness of purpose and unremitting industry that had al-
ready been the growing glory of his professional career.
But other and higher political honors were in store for him.
In 1835 he was elected by the legislature a regent of the
university of the state of New York, being the youngest
person ever chosen to that position.

In the fall of 1836 he was elected to the twenty-fifth
congress from the twentieth district, then composed of the
counties of Delaware and Broome. It is a striking instance
of his great popularity, that during those exciting times in
our political history no candidate was nominated in opposi-

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tion to him by the whig party. It was the memorable presi-
dential campaign of 1836, when Martin Van Buren defeated
Gen. William Henry Harrison. Bitter were the strifes which
followed that election ; and when at the extra session of
congress in September, 1837, J'^dge Parker took his seat, he
found himself sailing upon a stormy political sea. But he
possessed his soul in patience and sailed fearlessly over the
troubled waters. He was a formidable opponent of the
principal measures of the whig party in congress, and an
earnest leader and advocate of the administration policy.
The one great measure that was agitated in congress, fre-
quently leading to acrimonious debate, was that of the sub-
treasury scheme proposed by President Van Buren and op-
posed by the whig party and by some of the democrats.
Judge Parker brought his rare intellectual resources and his
impressive oratory to bear upon this subject in the advocacy
of the measure, which, however, failed to become a law at
that congress.

While in congress, Judge Parker served on several import-
ant committees, and was always an earnest supporter of his
party, making some telling and elaborate speeches, among
which were those on the Mississippi election case, the sub-
treasury bill, the public lands and the Gilley and Graves duel.

At the close of his active and eventful congressional
term he returned with renewed devotion to the practice of
his profession at Delhi. He held the office of district at-
torney of Delaware county during a term of three years. In
the spring of 1844 Governor Bouck appointed him circuit
judge and vice-chancellor of the third circuit. He then took
up his residence in the city of Albany, where he has since
lived as one of the leading figures in his profession and in
the walks of social and domestic life. He was circuit judge

Am ASA J. Parker.

305

of the third circuit and vice-chancellor till the spring of 1847,
that court having been then abolished by the adoption of
the constitution of 1846.

In the summer of 1847 he was elected by a large majority
a justice of the supreme court in the third judicial district
for a term of eight years, which expired in 1855. During
the year 1854 he served in the court of appeals, his associ-
ates being Judges Gardner, Denio, Alexander S. Johnson,
Allen and others. His numerous and ably-written opinions
of cases argued in the supreme court will be found in the
first twenty-one volumes of Barbour’s Supreme Court Re-
ports. His opinions in the court of appeals are reported in
the first and second volumes of Kernan’s Reports. One of
these opinions, which created no little interest at the time,
was in the case of Snedeker v. Warring, involving the ques-
tion whether “ a statue, colossal in size, erected as an orna-
ment on the ground in front of a country residence, and
securely attached to the earth by its weight was real or per-
sonal property.” Judge Parker’s, opinion that it was real
property finally prevailed, and the case was so decided.

During the summer of 1853 Judge Parker visited Europe
and was cordially received by distinguished lawyers and jur-
ists of the old world. At the request of Lord Brougham he
delivered an address before the Law Reform club of Eng-
land, regarding the admirable workings of the legal reform
that had been made in this state by the constitutional con-
vention of 1847, administration of lav/ and equity.

He visited many of the famous places abroad, carefully
studying the legal and educational systems of various coun-
tries, and the results accomplished by the labors of men in
past centuries ; and, highly pleased with what he had seen,
he returned home greatly invigorated in mind and body.

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Noted Living Albanians.

When the so-called “know-nothing or American party”
carried the state by large majorities in 1855, Judge Parker
was an unsuccessful candidate for justice of the supreme
court, George Gould being elected over him.

It has been well remarked of Judge Parker, that “at no
time in the history of this state have the judicial labors de-
volved upon a judge been more difficult and responsible than
those which he was called on to discharge during his twelve
years of judicial service. It was during this time that the
Anti-Rent excitement which prevailed throughout a large
portion of his judicial district was at its height, crowding the
civil calendar with litigation, and the criminal courts with
indictments for acts of violence in resisting the collection of
rents. The trial of ‘Big Thunder,’ before Judge Parker,
at Hudson, in the spring of 1845., lasted two weeks, and the
jury failed to agree. When the next court of oyer and
terminer was held in that county, Judge Parker was engaged
in holding the court in Delaware county, and Judge Ed-
monds was assigned to hold the Columbia oyer and terminer
in his place. At that court ‘ Big Thunder’ was again tried
and was convicted and sent to the state prison.”

In the summer of 1845, Osman N. Steele, under sheriff of
Delaware county, while engaged with a posse in his official
duties in the collection of rents due from Moses Earle, at
Andes, in that county, was violently resisted by about two
hundred men armed and disguised as Indians, and was
shot and killed by them. Intense excitement prevailed in
the county. A great struggle followed between those who
resisted and those who sought to enforce the laws.

On the 25th of August, 1845, Governor Wright declared
the county of Delaware in a state of insurrection, and a bat-
talion of light infantry was detailed to aid the civil authori-

Amasa J. Parker.

307

ties in the preservation of order and the making of arrests.
At the inquest held on the body of Sheriff Steele and at
the court of general sessions the whole subject was fully
investigated. Some indictments were found for murder,
but most of them were for manslaughter and lesser offenses.
Over two hundred and forty persons were indicted, most of
whom were arrested and in custody awaiting trial at the
then approaching oyer and terminer. The regular jail and
two log jails, temporarily constructed for the purpose, were
filled with prisoners. Under these discouraging circum-
stances, and with armed men stationed in the court room
and throughout the village to preserve order. Judge Parker
opened the oyer and terminer at Delhi on the 22d of Sep-
tember, 1845. A brief statement of these proceedings and
an extract from the charge of Judge Parker to the grand
jury will be found in the history of Delaware county, by
Jay Gould, published in 1856 and dedicated to Judge
Parker.

'‘After charging the grand jury he gave notice that what-
ever time it might take, he should continue to hold the
court till every case was tried and the jails were cleared.
The indictments were prosecuted by the district attorney,
assisted by John Van Buren, then attorney-general, and by
Samuel Sherwood, a distinguished member of the bar, then
of New York, but who formerly resided at Delhi ; and the
prisoners were defended by able counsel, among whom were
Samuel Gordon, Mitchell Sandford and Samuel S. Bowne.

“ John Van Steenburgh was first tried and convicted of
murder. Edward O’Connor was next tried with a like re-
sult. Both were sentenced to be executed on the 29th of
November; then next four others were convicted of felony
and sent to the state prison for life ; and thirteen were sent

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to the state prison for different terms of years. A large
number who had been engaged in resisting the sheriff, but
who had not been disguised, pleaded guilty of misdemeanors.
Some of these were fined, but as to most of them, and as to
some who pleaded guilty of manslaughter, sentence was
suspended, and they were told by the court they would be
held responsible for the future preservation of the peace in
their neighborhoods, and were warned that if any other
instance should occur of resisting an officer, or of a violation
of the statute, which made it a felony to appear for such pur-
pose armed and disguised, they would at once be suspected,
and might expect to be called up for sentence. Under this
assurance they were set at liberty, and it is but justice to
them to say that they became the best possible conserva-
tors of the peace, and that no resistance of process by vio-
lence has ever since occurred in that county.

“ At the close of the third week of the court, all the cases
had been disposed of. No prisoners were left in jail except
those awaiting execution or transportation to the state
prison ; the military were soon after discharged and the log
jails taken down, and peace and good order have ever since
reigned in the county.

“A report of the trial of Van Steenburgh, with a note
referring to the business of the court, will be found in i Park.
Cr. Rep. 39. The sentences of Van Steenburgh and
O’Connor were subsequently commuted by Governor Wright
to imprisonment for life, and, about a year later, all those
in the state prison were pardoned by the successor of Gov-
ernor Wright.

“Great credit was awarded to Judge Parker for his suc-
cessful discharge of the delicate and difficult duties devolved
upon him at the Delaware oyer and terminer ; and at the

Amasa J. Parker.

309

next commencement the degree of Doctor of Laws was
conferred on him by Geneva college.’

Resuming the practice of his profession, in which he al-
ways took the greatest delight, and in which he stood in the
front rank, he refused to be a candidate again for justice of
the supreme court, or for judge of the court of appeals,
when the democratic party in his district and in the state
was again largely in the ascendency. In 1856 he was the
unsuccessful democratic candidate for governor of the state,
John A. King, the republican nominee, being chosen. This
was the case again in 1858, when Edwin D. Morgan was
elected governor by over 17,000 majority. In all those
lively old contests and amidst the political vicissitudes of
his party, Judge Parker always ran ahead of his ticket, thus
showing that he enjoyed the respect and confidence of his
many friends.

In 1867-8, he was a delegate from the county of Albany
to the state constitutional convention, serving as a member
of the judiciary and other committees. On his retirement
from the bench in 1855, he resumed once more the practice
of the law, taking into partnership with him his son,
Amasa J. Parker, Jr., who had but recently been admitted
to the bar, and for whom legal practice and study presented
an inviting and interesting field of labor. Eleven years
afterward, ex-Judge Edwin Countryman, well known as an
able and judicious counselor, became a member of the firm ;
and under the name of Parker & Countryman, a large and
lucrative law business was carried on. In the management
of many important cases this firm was remarkably success-
ful. Some of the more important cases in which the vener-
able judge has been engaged during the past twenty years,
are those on the question of the right to tax national banks;

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on the title of Trinity church to property in the city of New
York; on the Levy will contest ; on the controversy between
the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company and the Pennsyl-
vania Coal Company ; and on the boundary line between
the states of New York and New Jersey.

Judge Parker was one of the founders of the Albany Law
school, and for twenty years was one of the professors in
that excellent institution, which is now a department of
Union university.

As an author, Judge Parker’s style is clear, concise and
polished. His numerous contributions to legal science are
well knewn. He has also published six volumes of law re-
ports, being decisions in criminal cases, and assisted in pre-
paring the fifth edition of the Revised Statutes of this state
(3 vols., 1869).

Judge Parker ranks high in point of scholarship. In ad-
dition to his acquaintance with English and French authors,
he is especially interested in ancient classical literature, and,
through the course of a long and busy life, has turned fre-
quently with renewed delight to the charming pages of the
old Latin and Greek authors. His private library has been
selected with great care and discrimination and contains the
cream of ancient and modern literature.

He has been president of the board of trustees of the Al-
bany Female academy; president of Albany Medical col-
lege; and is at present a trustee of Cornell and Union uni-
versities.

In 1886 Judge Parker made a most generous proposition
to the Y. M. A. of Albany by offering it the Bleecker fund
(which had been transferred to him), for the building of a
public hall, the only condition imposed upon the association
being the raising of $50,000, by means of which it would

Amasa J. Parker.

311

receive a property worth over $130,000. The amount re-
quired was accordingly raised by subscription, the property
transferred by Judge Parker, and the work of erecting a fine
public hall on a beautiful site was at once commenced.
This noble act on the part of Judge Parker, in connection
with the generosity of many of our citizens, will be remem-
bered with gratitude by thousands of the best and most in-
telligent Albanians for generations to come.

On the 27th of August, 1834, Judge Parker married Miss
Harriet Langdon Roberts, of Portsmouth, N. H. She
was a daughter of Edmund Roberts, the first American
diplomatist in Asia, whose life was full of interest and dar-
ing adventure While at his delightful home at Portsmouth,
Mr. Roberts was surrounded by several distinguished men,
such as the Rev. Dr. Burroughs, Rev. Dr. Buckminster,
Daniel Webster and Jeremiah Mason, besides the large fam-
ily connections of his wife. Mrs. Parker’s mother was
Catharine Whipple Langdon, a daughter of Woodbury Lang-
don, of Portsmouth, who belonged to one of the best known
New England families.

For nearly half a century Mrs. Amasa J. Parker gracefully
dispensed the hospitalities of the home mansion in Albany,
surrounded by devoted and admiring friends.

Of the surviving children of Judge and Mrs. Parker are
Gen. Amasa J. Parker, Jr., late state senator; and now
Brig.-Gen. 3rd Brigade N. G. S. N. Y. ; Mrs. John V. L.
Pruyn, widow of the late distinguished chancellor of the
university of the state of New York, Mrs. Erastus Corning
and Mrs. Gen. Selden E. Marvin — all prominent in social
circles, and possessing true refinement and the higher graces
of Christian character.

On the 27th of August, 1884, at the summer residence of

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Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn on ‘'The Cliffs,” in Newport, R. L,
Judge and Mrs. Parker kept their golden wedding. And
on the 2d of June, 1887, the 80th anniversary of the Judge’s
birthday, a reunion of his family and nearest friends took
place in Albany, which was a very pleasant and memorable
event in their history and experience. On that occasion the
Right Rev. Bishop William C. Doane, with an appropriate
toast, presented and read the following lines :

How shall we greet him, honored among men,

Who has not only past three score and ten,

But bears the weight of all these eighty }"ears.

Unbent, unbroken, eye undimmed with tears,

And natural force, like Patriarch of old.

All unabated ; and his age untold
But by his honors ! Let us write in gold
The glory of such age; to which, unrolled
Like a long, pleasant pathway, all the past.

Filled with strong purposes from first to last.

Lies bathed and basking in the sunset rays
Of peace, content, renown and length of da}^s.

We hail him victor in a fight well fought,

Crowned with the laurels plucked from many a field ;

Who learned by teaching, and while learning taught,

And made both life and books their wisdom yield.

Statesman and jurist, strong in earnest plea.

And wise in counsel, judging righteously:

Blest beyond men in all that sweetens life,

Home, children, children’s children, truest wife:

Chief among equal citizens, he bears
Our Cit)"’s name to honor high and fair:

With simple ease his well-won crown he wears:

“ Serus in coelum redeat: ” This our prayer.

On the 27th of June, 1889, nearly five years after so pleas-
ant a family reunion, the estimable and beloved wife of
Judge Parker, after reaching the advanced age of seventy-

Amasa J. Parker.

313

five, peacefully breathed her last, in the family mansion on
Washington avenue, which had been her home for forty-five
years. Profound sorrow was expressed by her relatives and
fellow-citizens at the departure of this mother in Israel,”
whose memory will remain among her friends as fragrant as
the flowers of spring and more enduring than the sculptured
marble. And now, ‘‘ her children arise up, and call her
blessed ; her husband also, and he praiseth her.”

“ In virtue fair,

Adorn’d with modesty and matron grace
Unspeakable, and love — her face was like
The light, most welcome to the eye of man;

Refreshing most, most honor’d, most desired
Of all he saw in the dim world below.”

On Saturday, the 29th of June the funeral of Mrs. Parker
was held from St. Peter’s church, with all due simplicity
and solemnity; and her remains were laid in the family lot
in the Rural cemetery. At the following morning service
in the same church, Rev. Dr. Battershall referred to this re-
markable woman in the following beautiful and impressive
words :

' “ Yesterday on the feast of St. Peter, we said the ritual
of the dead over one, who for many years was prominently
identified with this parish of St. Peter’s, and the memory of
whose sweet and beneficent life will long linger in this
parish and in this city. Harriet Langdon Parker was a
woman whom the church must needs honor, for she honored
the church, and all her life was its loving and dutiful hand-
maiden. She brought to the altar of Christ her strong,
vigorous nature with its rare endowments of intellectual
power, and trained faculty, and instinct for high and noble
things. With her, religion was something more than a
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314

decoration of life, or an occasional retreat from the storms
of the world. It sprung from and it gathered into itself the
deepest forces of her nature. It swept into one persist-
ent, unfaltering line of movement her whole womanhood.
She carried into it, as she carried into every thing, her
charity of vision and her strength of will, and it was. the in-
ner force on which her character grew and her life was
lived. She could give a reason for her faith ; but better
than reason, there was a warm, throbbing heart beneath
her faith.

“ How fully and richly her character shaped itself on fixed
religious principle, her devotion to the church, her attend-
ance at its services, her large and continuous benefactions,
all the flow and movement of her life bear witness. And
with all that gave strength and steadfastness, there was a
wealth of affection, a delicacy of mind, a refinement * of
thought, a tenderness of touch, which made her righteous-
ness gracious and beautiful. From such a life, with its
power of doing and its power of loving, even when gathered
into that great, unseen life on which it fed, there must needs
outflow influences and memories that will help us in our
struggle for goodness and work for Christ.”

On the evening of the 9th of October, 1889, when Har-
manus Bleecker hall on Washington avenue was opened to
the public with appropriate exercises, the venerable Judge
Parker — ‘Hhe observed of all observers” — came forward
and delivered an interesting address on the life, character
and labors of Plarmanus Bleecker, and^of his own care in
the management and disposition of so noble a trust fund
for the benefit of the Young Men’s association, and the
citizens of Albany. It was a proud day in the life of Judge
Parker, who had lived to see the consummation of his long

Amasa J. Parker.

315

contemplated project, and in appropriate, impressive lan-
guage he concluded his speech in the following words :

“ This hall is now finished and long may it stand a monu-
ment, more enduring than brass, to the memory of Har-
manus Bleecker. Not a monument of mere masonry, solid
and silent, speaking only by its unchanging inscription
graven upon it — -but a living and speaking monument dis-
pensing liberally its benefits and its instructions to all who
enter its portals.

“ Let these walls resound to the discussions of statesmen;
the eloquence of orators and the strains of enchanting music ;
to the teachings of those skilled in art, learned in science
and accomplished in literature. Let the drama here exert its
magic and chastening influence, and let Terpsichore, muse
of the mazy dance, find here her happiest votaries. And let
this hall, by all these means, continue to add to the sum of
human happiness and improvement to a time far into the
distant future. ‘ Esto perpetua.’

‘‘ My own duties and responsibilities in this enterprise are
now ended. But the interest I feel in its success is not les-
sened. My hope is high for the future. Upon those who
are to administer the affairs of the association a, greatly-in-
creased responsibility rests. If they act honestly, faithfully
and harmoniously, as I confidently believe they will, the in-
terests of the city will be largely promoted, and they will
receive the thanks, the blessings and the admiration of the
people.

“ But, whatever the future may be as to the result of our
labors, the people of our city will never cease to honor and
bless the memory of Harmanus Bleecker and his generous
and unselfish wife, for furnishing to the association the means
for doing so much good.”

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Noted Living Albanians.

In the study of Judge Parker’s life there is much to be
learned and admired, especially by the aspiring young men
of our day. The example he has set as a diligent student
in youth and as a persevering young man for the attain-
ment of the grand aims of his life are well worthy of imita-
tion. And now with a dignified presence, a wonderfully
preserved constitution, and a remarkable vitality, after the
accomplishment of so much intellectual work, age still sits
lightly upon him notwithstanding the weight of more than
four score years. In glancing over his life and labors during
this long period we may very aptly apply to him the well-
known phrase: “This was the noblest Roman of them all.”

On the 13th of May, 1890, many months after the above
sketch was originally prepared, Judge Parker departed this
life after a brief illness, in the 83d year of his age.

AMASA J. PARKER, JR.

Foremost among Albanians who in various ways
have devoted their time and best energies to the ad-
vancement of the public interests of the city and state,
stands the name of Amasa J. Parker, Jr. Born on the 6th
day of May, 1843, beautiful village of Delhi, Delaware

county, N. Y., he is the only surviving son of the vener-
able Judge Amasa J. Parker and the late Harriet Langdon
Parker. His parents removed to Albany when he was but
a year old, and here he grew up in the midst of our institu-
tions, in a city for whose welfare and prosperity no one has
stronger feelings of attachment, or higher ambition that she
may excel. His earliest education was carefully watched
over by loving and cultured parents, whom any son might
well be proud to honor and revere. When very young he
was first sent to a small private school under the charge of
Miss Margaret Cassidy. Afterward he became a pupil in
the school of the Messrs. Wrightson, where he remained
about six years studying the elementary branches. He was
fitted for college at the Albany academy.' In the fall of
i860 he joined the class of ’63 at Union college at the be-
ginning of the sophomore year, where he was noted for dili-
gence in his studies and for his devotion to athletic exer-
cises. It was while in college that his taste for military

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Noted Living Albanians.

matters was first strongly displayed. In i86i, when the
civil war threw its dark shadow over the country, young
Parker, then nearly i8 years old, was one of the most active
students engaged in organizing and drilling the “Union

College Zouaves, ’ which furnished upward of sixty commis-

sioned officers for our army. In vain he endeavored to ob-
tain his parents’ consent to his entering the army. They
insisted that it was his first duty to look after those liable to
be dependent upon him,_ and voluntarily, and at large ex-
pense, furnished a representative to go in his place.

Graduating with honor from “ old Union,” he turned his
undivided attention to the study of the law, a profession to
which his natural taste was early inclined, and to which he
had devoted much time during his senior year in college.
He became a law student in the office of Messrs. Cagger,
Porter & Hand — a firm then in the zenith of its reputation
— where he remai:Qed two years. Early in the fall of 1863
he entered the Albany Law school, and graduating from
that excellent institution the following May, was admitted
to the bar at the general term of the supreme court at Al-
bany, December 26, 1864.

On the 1st of May, 1865, he entered into partnership with
his father in the general practice of the law, which partner-
ship still continues. From September i, 1876, to September
I, 1888, ex-Judge Edwin Countryman was also a member of
the firm, which was during that period known as Parker &
Countryman. In 1888 Mr. Countryman retired from the
firm in order to form a new firm with his son.

During a period of over twenty-four years, Amasa J. Par-
ker, Jr., besides faithfully serving the public in offices of
trust, honor and responsibility, has been active in the line
of his profession, practicing in all the different courts, county,

Amasa J. Parker. Jr.

3^9

state and federal, and taking part in numerous and most im-
portant cases, especially those relating to banks, wills, and
railroad questions, which have been placed in the hands of
the distinguished firms of which he has been a member, and
whose clientage has always been large and lucrative. The
mere enumeration of these cases would exceed the limits pre-
scribed by this brief memoir.

Mr. Parker’s love of military science and discipline, so early
shown in his college days, has increased with the passing
years. He is a firm believer in the good citizenship involved
in the service of the National Guard. In 1866 he was ap-
pointed an aide-de-camp with rank of major, on the staff of
the Third division. National Guard.

In 1875 he was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Tenth
regiment, N. G. S, N. Y., and two years later was unani-
mously chosen its colonel. He brought up the number and
condition of the regiment to such a high standard that pre-
vious to his resignation in 1880 the regiment had 850 offi-
cers and men, and was second only in strength to the famous
Seventh regiment of New York city. Mr. Parker served as
president of the National Guard association, S. N. Y., from
1878 to 1880. No other officer ever filled that position for
more than one term.

Always a strict, consistent and conservative democrat, Mr.
Parker’s career as a legislator began in 1882, when he was
elected to the assembly from the third district of Albany
county. He served as chairman of the militia committee,
and was also a member of the judiciary committee and the
committee on federal relations, and was the compiler of the
Military Code now in force in this state.

In 1886 and 1887 he served as state senator from Albany
county, and was prominent in the senate for his tireless en-

320

Noted Living Albanians.

ergy and fearless and independent course in what he deemed
the right. In the senate he served on the following import-
ant committees : Finance, judiciary, cities, militia, commerce
and navigation, taxation and retrenchment, and miscellaneous
corporations.

Senator Parker originated the plan early in 1886, under
which the Albany delegation,” the senator and the four
assemblymen from Albany county, gave public notice of
stated meetings which were held at the city hall, Albany,
weekly, and where the delegation sat as a body, and neard
discussed all proposed legislative measures relating in any
way to the county of Albany and the cities of Albany and
Cohoes. This plan insured a thorough understanding of all
“ local measures ” by the “ Albany delegation,’’ created per-
fect harmony of action, and prevented sly and underhand
legislation. After such preliminary hearings many proposed
bills were abandoned, while others were simplified and con-
solidated, and others were perfected. The result gave uni-
versal satisfaction, and the plan has since been kept up by
the succeeding legislators representing Albany county.

Senator Parker, in 1886, after a long and severe struggle,
secured the addition of one hundred thousand dollars to the
general national guard appropriation, making that sum four
hundred thousand dollars per annum ; which amount has
since annually been voted by each succeeding legislature
without question. The following year he inaugurated and
carried through the additional item of one hundred thousand
dollars toward the purchase of new overcoats for the entire
national guard of the state, and also drafted and passed the
Albany armory bill, containing large appropriations by the
state and Albany county, and under which the following year
the present Albany armory site next west of the Harmanus

Amasa J. Parker, Jr.

321

Bleecker hall, on Washington avenue, was acquired by com-
mission. Work on the Albany armory is now progressing,
and it is expected that it will be completed and occupied by
the Tenth battalion of Albany earl}^in the spring of 1891.
It will be one of the best and most commodious armories in
the state.

In August, 1886, on the reorganization and reduction of
the divisions and brigades, Mr. Parker was elected brigadier-
general of the Third brigade, N. G. S. N. Y., His brigade
district embraces thirty-two of the sixty counties of the
state. He has made many radical changes and done much
to increase the strength and efficiency of the brigade, which

was nearly three thousand strong, and was pronounced the

)

finest brigade among the fifty thousand troops in the parade
at the Washington centennial in New York on the 30th of
April, 1889.

The New York Times ^ referring to the parade and the
Third brigade on that occassion, quoted from the official re-
port to the war department, Washington, D. C., as follows :
“ As the companies of these regiments i;olled by in solid
masses they showed a magnificent front, and as a mass and
body of troops nothing last Tuesday compared with the
Third New York brigade.” When Gen. Parker took com-
mand of the Third brigade in August, 1886, the total aggre-
gated 2,204 officers 1 the Third brigade aggre-

gates about 3,100 officers and men, and in morale and effici-
ency it is second to none in this country.

As a promoter of public improvement and progress in the
solid old Dutch city of Albany, Gen. Parker, with the enter-
prise of his New England ancestors stirring him to action,
has already won an enviable reputation among all classes of
citizens. His public services in this respect, though often of
41

322

Noted Living Albanians.

a varied and onerous nature, have always been gratuitously
and cheerfully rendered. He served as president of the
Young Men’s association in 1875 and 1876, when he and his
associates cleared the association of heavy debts; and dur-
ing his term was started the noble project for a great public

hall for the city of Albany with library building attached.
Elaborate plans were made, framed and exhibited to the Al-
bany public, but the necessary funds could not then be
raised, and the project slumbered to be revived by Mr. Par-
ker and others in 1887 and 1888, when the long-desired
Bleecker trust was secured by them from Judge Parker and
over fifty thousand dollars besides, raised by popular sub-
scription ; and as a result we now have the magnificent Har-
manus Bleecker hall. The framed building plans of 1875
will, upon the completion of the hall, be hung up in the same
as a part of the history of the institution.

General Parker was elected by the alumni a trustee of
Union college and served one term. He is a trustee of the
Albany Law school ; is president of its alumni association and
represents that body in the board of governors of Union uni-
versity. He is also a trustee of the Albany Medical college,
succeeding his father in that position on his resignation
after more than forty years’ service, during fifteen of which
he was president of the board. He succeeded his father in
1881 as one of the board of managers of the Hudson river
state hospital at Poughkeepsie, one of the most complete
and valuable asylums for the insane in this country. New
buildings there are about completed, begun in 1886, while
General Parker was in the senate, and the capacity of the
institution is more than trebled and much additional land
for farm purposes has been acquired by the state within the
past three years. General Parker was elected president of

Amasa J. Parker, Jr.

323

the board the day he entered it, and has since been re-
elected eight times. This great asylum to-day can accommo-
date one thousand patients and represents an investment
by the state of over two millions of dollars, independent of
the large outlay in the purchase of the original three hundred
acres of valuable land presented to the state upon which to
found the institution. Its board of managers is strong and in-
dependent in its policy, and while enforcing the most rigid
economy in all the departments of the institution, is deter-
mined that it shall excel all others in this country in com-
pleteness, efficiency and good results.

General Parker was married to Miss Cornelia Kane
Strong, of New Orleans, April 22d, 1868. Mrs. Parker was
fatally injured by a runaway, caused by the negligent con-
struction of the neck-yoke of the carriage in which she was
driving, September 29th, 1882. She lingered until Decem-
ber 1 8th, 1883, and left six children — two sons, now in Yale
college, and four daughters who are nearly grown. She was
a woman of rare abilities and gracious manners, as well as
of great personal loveliness. At the time his wife met with
her sad accident. General Parker himsejf, in his endeavor to
save the others in the party, was fearfully injured and it was
a long time before he regained his former health and vigor.

General Parker is above medium height, powerfully built,
with far more than ordinary physical strength and endurance.
He has always been a very temperate man and an athlete,
rarely varying a pound in weight. For many years he has
ridden horseback daily — Sundays excepted, without regard
to rain or shine, heat or cold.

He is a man of engaging manners, active in his move-
ments and gentlemanly in his bearing. As a public speaker
he is earnest, ready and forcible ; always firm in his con-

324 Noted Living Albanians.

victions and undeviating from the line of duty which he
marks out. He is endowed with remarkable will power,
and possesses great decision and independence of character.
Now in the very prime and vigor of manhood, following in
the footsteps of an honored father, he has in prospect many
more years of activity in his professional and political work
and in lending a helping hand toward the further growth
and development of municipal and state affairs.

CHARLES H. PECK.

“ There is a lesson in each flower,

A story in each stream and bower;

In every herb on which you tread
Are written vvords, which, rightly read.

Will lead you from earth’s fragrant sod,

To hope, and holiness, and God.”

Allan Cunningham.

An lean IAN who has manifested a high order of
genius in a special department of science, and whose
devotion to the study of the beauties and sublimities of
nature is supreme, is Professor Charles H. Peck, the present
botanist of the New York state museum of natural history.
He was born in the town of Sandlake, Rensselaer county,
N. Y., on the 30th of March, 1833. His father, Joel B.
Peck, operated a saw-mill at that place, and when but four-
teen years of age young Peck assisted him in running the
mill during the summer months. In the winter he attended
the district school — a much more congenial work for him
than that of handling lumber.

But this manual exercise was at the same time greatly
beneficial to him in strengthening his naturally delicate con-
stitution and fitting him for future usefulness in his later
scientific researches. In 1851, at the age of eighteen, he
entered the state normal school at Albany, where for a year

326

Noted Living Albanians.

he pursued his studies with the closest application and the
most absorbing interest. It was here that he first took up
the special study in which he has always since been so
deeply interested, and for which he seems to have been
naturally inclined from early youth. An extra class in
botany, taught by Professor J. H. Salisbury, then one of
the professors in the normal school, was formed, and
young Peck was one of the first to join it. It was a volun-
tary class, and discontinued at the close of the school term.
But it was instrumental in settling a point in the intellectual
aspiration of our student. He now determined to become
a botanist, and the elementary studies in this science which
he carried on here awakened in him an interest in the sub-
ject which never forsook him, and which had a great deal
to do in shaping and directing his whole future career.
Thus it often happens that apparently trifling circumstances
give a color and character to the history of an individual
which are far-reaching in their influence and most important
in their final results. While cherishing the most ardent
love for the study of botany, Mr. Peck was not then in a
situation to pay exclusive devotion to the more profound
investigations of this interesting and very instructive science.
In the meantime he was to engage for a brief period in
teaching school, in clerkship in a country store, and in com-
pleting a-general collegiate course.

Graduating from the normal school in 1852 he took
charge of a large district school in Rensselaer county in the
autumn of the same year This school had then an average
attendance of about sixty pupils. Though young and inex-
perienced as a teacher, Mr. Peck resolutely undertook the
work and successfully conducted the school through the win-
ter term. In the summer of 1853 he accepted a position as

Charles H. Peck.

327

a clerk in a general country store, but after a trial of four
months in this capacity, he was obliged to relinquish his
clerkship on account of impaired health, doubtless feeling at
the same time that he had not found his proper calling
in the dry goods business. After resting for a brief season
at home he fully made up his mind to avail himself of the
privileges of a collegiate course, and for this purpose he
carefully undertook his classical preparatory studies. He
entered Union college at Schenectady in the fall of 1855. It
may be truly asserted that Mr. Peck pursued his college
studies with a closeness and intensity which were lacking in
many a student of far more robust constitution. He made
the most of the precious hours of college life, poring day
after day and night after night over his text-books. He
took the regular classical course, and so high and scholarly
were his attainments in this branch of learning that he was
one of the three members of the class who successfully
passed the thorough and extended examination for the Nott
prize scholarship.

It was while at college that Mr. Peck’s former love for
botanical research had a more favorable opportunity of be-
ing kindled anew. He received his botanical instruction
from the late Professor Jonathan Pearson, a man genial in
his nature and earnest in his literary work. Professor Pear-
son did not confine his teachings to the class room, but
made excursions with his botanical class to the fields and
mountains, teaching facts and principles as suggested in the
broad and beautiful field of nature, where —

“ They sat, reclined

On the soft, downy bank, damask’d with flowers.”

These excursions of the college class, however, were not
frequent enough to suit the taste of Mr. Peck, who wished

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Noted Living Albanians.

to lose no opportunity to gratify his love for botanical in-
vestigation. During nearly every Saturday in the summer
and autumn months, he might have been seen rambling
through the college garden or over more distant fields, hills
and mountains, in search of plants for study ; and specimens
for his herbarium. He thus combined the enjoyable and
profitable pursuit of knowledge with most agreeable recrea-
tion, imipressed, doubtless, with the sentiment of Words-
worth —

“To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”

Mr. Peck graduated from old Union with honor in 1859,
when the mutterings of coming civil war were about to agi-
tate the country. He at once accepted a position as teacher
of classics, mathematics and botany in the Sandlake Collegi-
ate institute, the school in which he had received his own
classical preparation for college. Here he remained three
years, patiently and carefully imparting the fruits of his
hard earned, extensive knowledge to his scholars. While
here a position as tutor in Union college was offered him
but circumstances were such as to prevent its acceptance.

At the end of the second year of Mr. Peck’s professorship
here, a happy domestic event occurred in his life, and that
was his marriage to Miss Mary C. Sliter, a young lady pos-
sessed of many virtues, who had been his classmate in his
school-boy days, and who now consented to be a helpmate
to him during life. Two sons, both of whom are living, are
the fruits of this union. Having thus happily settled down
in life, Mr. Peck removed to Albany with his young wife, at
the close of his third year at Sandlake, and accepted a
position as teacher in a private school, where Latin, Greek,
book-keeping, etc., were especially under his charge. After

Charles H. Peck.

329

four and a half years of continuous and faithful work in this
capacity, his services were transferred to the New York state
museum of natural history, with which institution he has
since been connected as botanist. About this time he be-
came a member of the Albany institute, and he is now cor-
responding member of several scientific societies. The
dreams of his early life may now be said to have been fully
realized, and he has ever felt perfectly at home in his present
sphere of activity and usefulness. This position has given
him an excellent opportunity for the full exercise of his love
for botanical pursuits, and he has availed himself of it with
gladness. The duties of his office made it necessary to de-
vote much time to the study of fungi, and in this branch of
botany he has become one of the leading authorities in this
country. His annual reports to the board of regents of the
university of the state of New York constitute an important
addition to mycological literature, and they are eagerly
sought after by botanists throughout this country and Eu-
rope. He numbers among his correspondents the most dis-
tinguished European and American botanists. He has de-
tected and described very many new species of fungi, and
has added much to the general knowledge of these plants.
By his labors the herbarium of the New York state museum
of natural history has taken a position of prime importance
among the public herbaria of the world, containing as it does
the type specimens of a large number of species of fungi,
some of which are not represented in any other herbarium.
The number of species represented in the herbarium has
been almost trebled, now numbering over four thousand, of
which one-half at least are fungi.

In 1886 Mr. Peck removed to a country seat at Menands,
three miles from Albany, where he could experiment with
42

330

Noted Living Albanians.

plants, and where he has taken much interest in horticultural
operations.

At the age of eighteen Mr. Peck united with the Presby-
terian church, and he is at present a member of the Fourth
Presbyterian church of Albany, of which the Rev. A. V. V.
Raymond is pastor. In politics he has always been a repub-
lican, but not an active partisan, sometimes even voting
for candidates of the opposite party when deeming them
best fitted for the place.

ISAAC G. PERRY.

An architect of high standing and great popularity in
his profession is Isaac G. Perry, the regular capitol
commissioner, whose official residence is now in Albany.
Born in Bennington, Vt., of Scottish ancestry, on the
24th of March, 1822, he passed his earliest days amidst the
grand, patriotic scenes of the Green mountains, breathing
pure, invigorating air and laying the foundation of a strong
constitution.

His father, Seneca Perry, a native of White Creek, Wash-
ington county, N. Y., and a carpenter and joiner by trade,
died in 1868. His mother, whose maiden name was Martha
Ann Taggart, was born at Londenary, N. H., and died in
i860. She was ardently attached to the old Presbyterian faith.
His grandfather was Valentine Perry, and his grandmother.
Patient (Hays) Perry, both of White Creek. His grandmother
on his maternal side was Mary Woodburn of Londenary, N.
H. The Woodburns came from Scotland to this country at
an early date, and settled in Londenary and its vicinity.

His parents removed to Keeseville, Essex county, N. Y.,
when their son Isaac was a lad of seven years. There he
attended the village school for several terms, and served an
apprenticeship with his father as a carpenter and joiner, pur-
suing his studies in this line with the greatest enthusiasm

332

Noted Living Albanians.

from early morn until late at night. He may, in fact, be
called a born architect, so early did this subject engross his
thoughts and fire his ambition. And so speedily did he ac-
quire a knowledge of its elementary principles that in a short
time he began to do work on his own account.

His abilities as an architect soon became so well known to
the citizens of Keeseville and the surrounding country that
he received and executed many orders for building purposes,
gaining a professional reputation which has ever since been
on the increase, until its crowning glory has been reached.

In 1852 Mr. Perry removed to New York city and opened
an office at 229 Broadway. It was a bold venture for a
young architect from a rural district, but it was a successful
one. For twenty years he carried on his business in the
metropolis with a steadily increasing volume and a skillful
completion of architectural designs. But the time had come
when he was to engage in works of a public nature for the
state. In 1857 he had the good fortune to receive a com-
mission to furnish plans and superintend the construction of
the New York State Inebriate asylum at Binghamton, N. Y.
By the construction of this edifice — a fine specimen of cas-
tellated Gothic architecture — his fame was more widely ex-
tended and his reputation permanently established. But he
relaxed none of his native born energies in the prosecution
of his chosen and important work. The citizens of Bing-
hamton were loud in the praise of the rising young architect,
and work after work came rushing into his hands. Among
the many other important buildings in Binghamton erected
under his supervision we have only space here to mention
the following: The First Baptist church, the Centenary

M. E. church, the Congregational church, St. Patricks
church, the Phelps bank building. First National bank build-

Isaac G. Perry.

333

ing, the McNamara block, the Hagaman block, the Perry
block, the High school building. Hotel Bennett, the Phelps
mansion, not to speak of the numerous other fine private*
residences there, the result of his handiwork. His works
extended all through and far beyond the Chemung valley.

In order to be near the scene of his great architectiiral
undertakings, Mr. Perry left New York city eighteen
years ago and took up his permanent residence in Bingham-
ton. But his professional works were not confined to that
city alone. Leading citizens of Scranton, Wilkesbarre, Pa.,
and other towns sought after and obtained his services. At
Scranton he built the Lackawanna court-house, the Dickson
Manufacturing Company’s machine shops, the Second Na-
tional bank, the Scranton Trust Company’s bank, the Li-
brary edifice, the residence of Hon. Joseph H. Scranton, Jr.,
after whose father the place was called, dwellings for Messrs.
Linnen and Green, besides many others of a similar nature,
all constructed in a substantial and very attractive manner.
Wilkesbarre also bears the marks of his pleasing designs
and rare architectural skill. There he built the fine resi-
dence of Charles Parish, the First National bank, the opera
house, residence of Stanley Woodward, blocks of commer-
cial buildings, and numerous dwelling-houses. At Port
Jervis, N. Y., he built the Dutch Reformed church and par-
sonage, Rev. Mr. Mill’s house, the Catholic church, the Far-
num and Howell commercial block, and several other public
and private edifices. All these are but a small portion of
the work performed by Mr. Perry before his connection with
the new capitol at Albany. It has been stated that at times
the work in his office has aggregated $1,000,000. He also
furnished many designs for buildings in the western states,
as far as Kansas, where his fame had already extended.

334

Noted Living Albanians.

The noble specimens of Mr. Perry’s architectual skill in
so many different places were sufficient to call more par-
ticular attention to him by our state authorities in the
selection of an able and accomplished architect to look
after the proper continuance of the work on the new capitol,
and accordingly, on the 30th of March, 1883, Governor
Cleveland appointed him the regular commissioner of the
capitol, under the new law creating a single commissioner to
have “ entire charge of the interests which had heretofore
been confided to a board of commissioners.” Six days
afterward this most judicious appointment was confirmed
by the senate. It is proper to say that this responsible jTo-
sition was unsought by Mr. Perry, while at the same time
it was favorably received by the press of the state of all
political parties. Though a pronounced democrat Mr. Perry
brought no entangling politics into his new professional
work ; and for the past seven years he has discharged the
duties of his office on the broad principles of impartiality,
justice and honesty, thus meriting the encomiums of his
friends and the full confidence placed in him by the people
of the empire state. Indeed, we believe that politics have
but little attractions for him, for his whole heart seems to be
wrapped up in the cause and advancement of his own pro-
fession. During his administration as capitol commissioner
he has superintended the work with an energy, diligence
and fidelity commendable in every respect. Always alert in
his field of labor, looking over the progress of the work,
drawing and perfecting plans and making every desirable
improvement, he has spent his days and evenings with this
one all-absorbing subject on his mind.

One of the most striking, beautiful and elaborate speci-
mens of his architectural work on the new capitol is his de-

Isaac G. Perry.

335

sign, arrangement and adornment of the interior of the state
library, which must always attract the attention and call
forth the admiration of visitors from all parts of the country.
In the central hall of the library, the dimensions of which
are forty-two feet by seventy-two feet, with a ceiling fifty-
three feet in height, are thirty-two massive, highly polished
columns of red granite. Of these, on the first floor, are four
clusters of six, two double and two single ones. The capi-
tals are in clusters of six, no two of which are alike in de-
sign. On the fourth floor are eight more clusters of granite
columns, eight clusters of four and four double ones. The
flooring is of red tile with variegated borders, made in Cleve-
land. The ceiling is a marvel of beauty, adorned with most
appropriate figures and allegorical designs delicately painted
by a New York artist, among which are portraits of Shakes-
peare, Milton, Goethe, Schiller, Byron and Longfellow.
Symbols of science and art appear on the opposite sides,
while in the center of the ceiling are cupids floating among
roses in a summer’s sky, which no person of refined tastes
can look upon without admiration.

From the central hall to the right, on entering, is the law
library, occupying a space of thirty feet by forty-five feet,
with its numerous alcoves well filled with the choicest treas-
ures of legal science. Two flights of stairs lead to the floors
above. On the left of the central hall are the spacious gen-
eral library rooms extending to the end of the south-west
side of the building, occupying a space of forty-eight feet by
one hundred and four feet, also containing flights of stairs
leading to other floors. The whole apartments, both of the law
and general library, are finished under the most watchful
care of Mr. Perry, who designed to make them a worthy re-
ceptacle of one of the miost valuable public libraries of the

Noted Living Albanians.

• 336

world, and in the construction of which his name will ever
be pleasantly associated.

The senate stair-case and the court of appeals room are
also works in which he has taken great pains in finishing in
an elaborate and artistic manner. While many persons sup-
posed that Mr. Perry was only a first-class builder they may
now see in these grand capitol works that he also possesses
a high order of architectural genius and artistic design. He
is also the architect of the new armory building on the cor-
ner of Washington avenue and Lark street.

In his personal appearance Mr. Perry is of a tall, robust
figure with a large head, light brown hair a little sprinkled
with grey, long, flowing beard, very plain and affable in his
manners, without the least display of vanity or ostentation,
but evincing at the same time no little strength of intellect,
decision of character and indomitable perseverance, sufficient
to grapple with, and master the most difficult and complica-
ted matters in the line of his profession.

Besides his acknowledged abilities as an architect and
builder there is one trait in his character that must commend
itself to all good citizens, and that is his inflexible honesty,
the crowning glory of his long and busy career, standing
forth like a stately granite shaft.' Gov. Hill only recently
voiced public sentiment when he characterized Isaac G.
Perry as ‘‘ an able, responsible and competent architect.”

In December, 1848, Mr. Perry married Miss Lucretia L.
Gibson of Keeseville, N. Y.

JOSEPH H. RAMSEY.

Among the distinguished men who have figured honor-
ably in the civil and political affairs of Albany and
Schoharie county, is the Hon. Joseph H. Ramsey, ex-senator.
He has been aptly styled the little giant of the Albany and
Susquehanna railroad. Stirring and exciting actions, es-
pecially in railroad matters, have marked his long and busy
career — actions in which he has shown a determination and
an unyielding perseverance seldom equalled or surpassed in
fighting for what he deemed to be right, as well as for the
best interests of his fellow-citizens in railroad matters.

Born on the 29th of January, 1816, in the town of Sharon,
Schoharie county, N. Y., he spent his boyhoock day^ there
arnidst the rich and attractive scenery of a now flourishing
portion of the state. His ancestry is of German and Eng-
lish origin, the more sturdy and substantial qualities of which
he has combined in an eminent degree. His father, the Rev.
Frederick Ramsey, was a man of high moral and religious
character, who was for more than fifty years a local minister
in the Methodist church. After fighting “ a good fight ” in
spiritual matters, he departed this life about twelve years
ago, over eighty years old, in the lively hope of receiving
the everlasting “ crown of righteousness ” reserved for .the
just. The mother of ex-Senator Ramsey is still living, at the
43

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Noted Living Albanians.

great age of ninety-two, in the possession of her mental
faculties, blessed and cheered with the consolations which
flow from the higher spiritual fountains of a true Christian
life. The anniversary of her ninetieth birthday was cele-
brated at Cobleskill on the 13th of August, 1889. The
family of ten children, whose ages ranged from seventy-three
to fifty-one, were all present to honor the occasion, as
follows : The Hon. Joseph H. Ramsey of Howe’s Cave ; Rob-
ert V. S. Ramsey of Argusville ; Mrs. (Rev.) J. C. Fenton of
Schaghticoke ; Mrs. (Rev.) Augustus Brown of Fairfax, Va.;
Mrs. A. M. Webster of Cobleskill ; Mrs. Dr. Herrick and
Mrs. Robert Harper of Albany; Mrs. Henrietta Hannah of
Cobleskill; Mrs. Frank Peeso of Syracuse, and Mrs. John
W. McNamara of Albany.

The subject of this sketch attended the district schools of
his native town, and there laid the foundation of a good
practical education. His youthful inclinations seem to have
been inclined toward the study of law, in the pursuit of
which he was most signally favored. At the age of twenty-
one years he entered the law office of Jedediah Miller of
Cobleskill, a lawyer of rare ability and persuasive eloquence
as a speaker. Mr. Miller, who deserves a passing notice
here, was a New England man, a descendant on his mother’s
side of the Pilgrims who came over in the Mayflower. He
was a classmate of Daniel Webster at Dartmouth college
and graduated there in 1805. Like many of the eastern men
he found his way to this state, and became an earty settler
of the then wilderness region of Schoharie county. He
studied law with old Judge Tiffany and was admitted to
practice in 1809. Highly gifted by nature with intellectual
powers, he was not long in rising to eminence in his pro-
fession.

Joseph H. Ramsey.

339

In 1819 he was a member of the legislature, and again in
1820, 1832 and 1838. His patriotism was lofty. Not long
before he died, and shortly before the close of the civil war,
on being told that the prospects were bright for the speedy
restoration of the Union, he is said to have exclaimed : ‘‘ God
be praised. I can die in peace.”

Under the instructions of so thorough a scholar and so
able an advocate it is not to be wondered at that young
Ramsey, with his own natural gifts, made rapid progress in
the studies of his chosen profession. It was indeed a period
in his life upon which he has doubtless always looked with
pleasant emotions, for it was then that the rich treasures of
a noble science were being opened to his studious mind,
while new and inviting fields for work or warfare were spread-
ing out before his youthful vision.

In 1840, a year memorable in our political history, when
Gen. William Henry Harrison was elected to the presidency
of the United States, Mr. Ramsey was admitted to practice
law in all the courts of the state. For several years after re-
ceiving his legal diploma he continued with Mr. Miller
gaining much experience in a large law practice and a wide
reputation, which were to be eminently serviceable to him
on future legal battlefields. Succeeding Mr. Miller in his
practice, Mr. Ramsey afterward opened a law office at Law-
yersville, where he continued the usual practice of his pro-
fession for some years longer.

In the autumn of 1854 Mr. Ramsey was elected as a whig
to the legislature from the democratic county of Schoharie ;
and in the following year he was a delegate to the whig state
convention, while he was also a member of the joint conven-
tion, composed of whigs and free-soil democrats, which
formed the republican party in this state — a party at whose

340

Noted Living Albanians.

cradle he thus sat, but whose hearse he has never yet had
occasion to follow.

Mr. Ramsey was now to enter more boldly into another
field — the arena of railroad warfare, in which he was finally
after many pitched battles to gain a splendid victory without
the loss of a single drop of blood, though for a long time the
dark clouds betokened the burst of a local storm of civil war.
This great question was the building of the Albany and Sus-
quehanna railroad, with whose interests the life of Mr. Ram-
sey has been so interwoven that a brief review of the whole
subject will not be foreign here. Mr. Ramsey was from the
first an ardent advocate of the building of the Albany and
Susquehanna railroad. He saw at a glance what benefits
would ultimately flow to the people of old Schoharie and
other adjacent counties in the development of the material
resources of what was then know as a sequestered region,”
and in the displacement of the old wagon roads. He saw
how flourishing villages would in time grow up along the
line of the contemplated route, and that the wilderness region
of those parts would be turned into fruitful fields and blos-
som like the rose. No man was better acquainted with that
section of the country and what it wanted in order to enrich
itself than he, and with a courage not to be shaken by any
“ lions in the way,” he went straight forward toward the ac-
complishment of the grand object in view, and that was the
establishment of a new railroad.

The Albany and Susquehanna Railroad Company was first
organized in 1852, when more than a million dollars had
been subscribed for the enterprise by the inhabitants along
the proposed line, and by parties living in Albany. In the
summer of 1853 a contract was made by the company with
Morris, Miller, Baker & Co., to build the road, and the work

Joseph H. Ramsey.

341

was commenced. But owing to the revulsion in railroad
affairs, the contractors were obliged to suspend operations.
A complete abandonment of the project seemed to be immi-
nent, when Mr. Ramsey was called to consult with the di-
rectors regarding the proper course to pursue. The result
of the deliberations was a determination to apply to the
legislature for a law “authorizing the towns to subscribe to
the stock and issue their bonds in payment, and in that way
ascertain whether the people of the towns were disposed to
aid or not.”

In the autumn of 1855 Mr. Ramsey was elected as a re-
publican to the state senate from the seventeenth sena^
torial district, then comprising the counties of Schoharie
and Delaware. He received many votes from the demo-
crats in those counties who were in favor of the construction
of the Albany and Susquehanna railroad, and who expected
him to continue his efforts in behalf of the enterprise. In
this his constituents were not disappointed. He lost no
time in introducing a bill into the senate of 1856, authoriz-
ing the towns to subscribe to the stock of the company.
This bill after a stubborn opposition, passed both houses,
and was signed by Governor King. But it was not till the
next session (1857) that the act was so amended as to make
it entirely practical, requiring the consent of a majority in-
stead of that of two-thirds of the tax payers, representing a
m.ajority of the taxable property of the towns, expressed in
writing.

In 1858 Mr. Ramsey was elected a director and made
vice-president of the company. He had devoted his best
energies in securing subscriptions, in allaying opposition,
and in trying to place the company on a sure basis. • But
scarcely had one obstacle been removed before another pre-

342

Noted Living Albanians.

sented itself. The validity of the law raising money by
town subscriptions was questioned ; litigation followed ; but
the court of appeals rendered a decision in favor of the com-
pany. Again the contending forces advanced closer, and
the attacks became fiercer. The legislature in 1858-9
passed a bill granting state aid to the company to the
amount of $200,000 to complete that portion of the road
between Albany and Schoharie. The bill was vetoed by
Governor Morgan. Mr. Ramsey was re-elected to the
senate and in the session of 1 860-1 he presented another
bill in the interests of the road, which was again vetoed by
Governor Morgan, as were also two other bills of a similar
nature, in 1862. Men of less nerve and pluck than Mr.
Ramsey would have given up the contest and retired from
the field as a vanquished foe. But one defeat seemed only
to inspire him to renewed efforts, to drive back the lines of
the opposing forces. In the session of 1863 his favorite bill
appropriating $500,000 for the road as far as Oneonta was
promptly passed and signed by Governor Seymour, who had
been elected in the fall of 1862.

In September, 1863, the road was opened for business to
Schoharie creek ; and on the resignation of Mr. E. P. Pren-
tice of Albany, as president of the company, Mr. Ramsey
was unanimously elected in his place. For two years the
work of construction went slowly on, principally on account
of the increase in the cost of labor and material, and the in-
flation of the currency incident to the war of the rebellion.
And it was not until the summer of 1865 that the road was
opened to Oneonta. In this crippled condition of the affairs
of the company a bill passed the legislature in 1866-7, for the
remaining $500,000 to aid in the completion of the road.
This bill Governor Fenton vetoed ; but the next year he

Joseph H. Ramsey.

343

signed one appropriating $250,000 for that portion of the
road between Oneonta and Harpersville ; while in 1868 he
vetoed a bill for a like appropriation, being the last instal-
ment asked for. Disappointed and dispirited again the
company by great exertion and much sacrifice succeeded in
raising money by other means, so that the road was com-
pleted to Binghamton in January, 1869. But the real tug
of war was soon to come. Jay Gould and James Fisk, Jr.,
thinking it would make a valuable appendage to their Erie
road, came down ‘Gike a wolf on the fold,” and sought by
high-handed, desperate means to secure by purchase a
majority of the stock of the road. Claiming they had al-
ready a majority without waiting for an election, they im-
mediately commenced an action and obtained an order from
Judge Barnard — afterward impeached — suspending Mr.
Ramsey from acting as president before the time of the
election of directors. Judge Rufus W. Beckham,
father of the present judge, made another order modi-
fying that of Judge Barnard, and giving the defend-
ants a chance to be heard. The order of Judge Peck-
ham was annulled by Judge Barnard, and was entirely dis-
regarded by Gould, Fisk and their friends, and a bold at-
tempt was made by them to take possession of the road by
force. Fisk, with some of his cohorts,. came to Albany and
tried to get possession of the office of the president and
other offices of the company, but on being vigorously re-
sisted they were obliged to beat an ignominious retreat.
The next charge to be made in the line of attack was the
concentration of a large force of Erie’s men, numbering
from fifteen hundred to two thousand, mostly employees,
with the design of taking forcible possession of the road,
commencing at Binghamton. This was met by deter-

344

Noted Living Albanians.

mined volunteers on the Ramsey side to resist the outrage.
The most intense excitement prevailed, and it looked for
some time as if blood must be spilt. The contending
forces met at the tunnel west of Binghamton when the Gould
forces attempted to run an Erie locomotive to Albany,
with employees of the Erie, to take possesion of the depots
along the road. Just then Robert C. Blackall, master me-
chanic of the Albany and Susquehanna road, with his men
captured the Erie engine, with the engineer and fireman,
and sent it dashing on at full speed to Albany. The Erie’s
employees were paroled by the brave master mechanic.

The final notable legal contest in this celebrated railroad
fight was made in 1870, when the Gould and Fisk party made
another unsuccessful attempt to gain control of the road,
when just before the annual meeting of the company Mr.
Ramsey, as president, and Mr. Phelps, as treasurer and sec-
retary, were enjoined by another order of Judge Barnard
from taking any part in the election. The regular election
was held notwithstanding, and the inspectors declared that
the Ramsey directors were duly chosen. The Gould party
also held an election and claimed the victory. Carried
to the courts the case was finally decided in favor of the
Ramsey directors, in the supreme court held at Rochester
by Hon. E. Darwin Smith. This was a crowning triumph
for the Albany and Susquehanna railroad, and for the heroic
Mr. Ramsey, who had all along stood in the front ranks
with his face to the foe. In 1870 this now prosperous road
was leased by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company,
by which it has ever since been operated.

Mr. Ramsey has held several other important offices be-
sides those of a legislative character. He succeeded Hon.
Erastus Corning in the presidency of the Albany Iron Manu-

Joseph H. Ramsey.

345

facturing Company. He was president of the New York
and Albany railroad. In 1871, 1872 and 1873 he was a dele-
gate from Albany to the republican state conventions of
those years. He was also a member of the republican state
committee for several years.

In the proceedings to impeach Judge Barnard no one took
a more active part than Mr. Ramsey, and when that judge
was impeached and was tried by the senate and prohibited
‘Hrom holding any office under the civil government,” it
must have been with feelings of the highest approval that
Mr. Ramsey looked upon the just verdict of the senate.

On the 17th day of March, 1835, Mr. Ramsey was mar-
ried to Sarah S. Boyce, daughter of William Boyce of Sharon.
She was the granddaughter of Col. John Rice of Revolution-
ary memory, who removed from Connecticut immediately
after peace was declared, to what was then New Dorlach, in
old Tryon county.

Col. Rice was the first member of assembly, and of the
same legislature which formed the town of Sharon and Scho-
harie county at the session of 1795, from territory taken from
Tryon county. The town of Sharon was named from the
town of the same name in Connecticut from which he and
his family emigrated. He was re-elected to the assembly in
the years 1796, 1797, 1798, 1808 and 1809. He was also
subsequently elected supervisor, as was the father of Mr.
Ramsey, of the town of Sharon. William Boyce was born in
Schaghticoke in the state of New York.

Mr. Ramsey is now' president of the Howe’s Cave associa-
tion in manufacturing cement, lime and brick. From 1863
to 1883 he resided in Albany and has had, and now has, a
law office in this city, and his venerable form may be seen
almost daily on our streets, though his residence is at Howe’s
44

346

Noted Living Albanians.

Cave in the town of Cobleskill, his former residence, in the
vicinity of a spot where hundreds of pilgrims yearly resort to
look upon the silent majesty of nature’s works in a “ recess
of darkness and wonders.” He is also president of a rail-
road enterprise for the construction of a railroad from the
city of New York to the St. Lawrence river at or near Og-
densburg.

View of Howe’s Cave Hotel.

HARMON PUMPELLY READ.

Among the young men of note in our city whose an-
cestry has filled an honorable place in American
history, and who by his interest in the prosperity of his
native town and his extensive knowledge of men and things
in other lands, is the genial and accomplished Major H. P.
Read. Born in the city of Albany on the 13th of July, i860,
when the storm of civil war was fast gathering to burst over
the country, he descended from a long line of illustrious
ancestors. His father. General J ohn Meredith Read, was born
in Philadelphia on the 21st of February, 1837 ; was educated
at a military school ; graduated with honor from Brown
university ; attended the Albany Law school, and studied
civil and international law in Europe. He was admitted to
the bar in Philadelphia, and afterward removed to this
city. When but twenty years old he was appointed aide-
de-camp to the governor of Rhode Island, having two years
previously commanded a company of national cadets from
which many commissioned officers were afterward furnished
to the United States during the rebellion. He was actively
engaged in the presidential campaign of 1856 in favor of
Fremont, and in i860 he organized the wide-awake move-
ment in New York, which was an element of great power in
the election of Lincoln.

348

Noted Living Albanians.

In 1859 General Read was married at Albany to Miss
Delphine Marie Pumpelly, a beautiful and attractive young
lady, daughter of Harmon Pumpelly, a notable and wealthy
Albanian, some of whose ancestors had served in the
old French’ and English wars, and in the revolutionary
struggle for independence. Honors and offices came rapidly
to young Read. At the age of twenty-three he had become
adjutant-general of the state of New York. In February,
1861, he was chairman to the government commission which
welcomed Lincoln at Buffalo, and safely escorted him by a
special train to Washington. General Read displayed great
energy, ability and zeal in maintaining the cause of the Union,
for which he received the thanks of the war department of
the United States. On the elevation of General Grant to
the presidency in 1868, in whose election he had taken a
lively interest, he was appointed consul-general of the
United States for France and Algeria, to reside at Paris.
He subsequently acted as consul-general of Germany during
the Franco-German war. He remained in Paris during the
first and second sieges of the city (1870-71), where by his
rare skill in diplomacy, prudence, tact and kindness, he per-
formed many signal services in his official position, for which
he received the thanks of both the French and German gov-
ernments. In 1873 he was appointed United States minis-
ter to Greece, holding the office during six years. In 1874
he revisited his native country, and was received with every
mark of respect and honor, especially in Albany, his earlier
home. General Read is at present staying in Paris, engaged
in historical and biographical research.

The present General Read is a son of Chief Justice John
Meredith Read of Pennsylvania, who was one of the most
eminent jurists of that state, and one of the founders of the

Harmon P. Read.

349

republican party, and in i860 a candidate for the nomina-
tion of president of the United States. General Read
is a grandson of Hon. John Read, who was also a dis-
tinguished - lawyer of Pennsylvania, and who was state
senator and held other important offices in his state. The
great-grandfather of General Read was George Read of
Delaware, one of the six signers of the declaration of inde-
pendence who were framers of the constitution. He held
the office of president of the state of Delaware, was twice
elected to the United States senate, and was chief justice
of Delaware. He was a son of Colonel John Read, who was
born in Dublin, 1688, two hundred years ago, descend-
ing from an old aristocratic family originally seated in Berk-
shire, England. This old Colonel John Read was the first
of the family name who came to this country. He pur-
chased large tracts of land in Maryland and Delaware, and
was one of the first proprietors of Charlestown, Md.

Much has been written about the ancestors of the present
Harmon P. Read, and every thing goes to show that they
were endowed with singular ability — fearless in the per-
formance of what they deemed to be their duty and lofty in
their patriotism.

Harmon Pumpelly Read, the subject of our sketch, was a
pupil in the Albany Boys’ academy when scarcely fourteen
years of age. He also attended St. John’s Military academy
at Sing Sing, and afterward went to Trinity college, Hart-
ford, Conn. He has crossed the ocean several times. In
the fall of 1881 he made a trip to Europe and spent a year
in visiting some of the interesting localities in the old world.
Making his headquarters at Rome during most of the winter,
he paid flying visits to Naples and other places famous in
Roman history. After carefully surveying the grand old

350

Noted Living Albanians.

attractions of the “ eternal city,” he set out on a journey
through Spain ; penetrated into the interior of Morocco,
travelled into Portugal, stopping a short time at Lisbon,
whence he went over to England and Scotland, returning to
Paris, and after spending some time with his parents there,
sailed for America. While abroad Maj. Read received high
honors for a young American citizen. At Rome he was
presented at court, witnessing the splendors of a royal re-
ception. He also counted among his friends some of the most
distinguished among the nobility and men of letters in Eu-
rope. On reaching Albany during the latter part of 1882,
he entered the law office of Edward Wade, more for the
purpose of gaining a general knowledge of the law for his
own personal gratification, than with a view of following it
as a profession. But ill-health compelled him to relinquish
his legal studies and to seek a change of air and scenery.
He has spent a considerable portion of his time at Newport
and New York in the society of the learned and elite ^ where
he has always been received as a most agreeable companion
by a host of enthusiastic friends.

In 1885 Maj. Read had become so popular with the re-
publicans of Albany that he was induced to accept the
nomination for member of assembly in the Third district, a
strongly democratic one. His opponent was Hon. Norton
Chase, and both were popular young men of about the same
age. The contest was a spirited one, and though not ex-
pected to be elected, Maj. Read made a very thorough can-
vass of the district, and the large vote he received attested
his popularity. During this canvass Maj. Read w^as quite
popular with the plainer class of people and was regarded
by many of the workingmen as their favorite candidate.
He has always taken a special interest in the questions

Harmon P. Read.

affecting the laboring classes of our community, and is, con-
sequently, highly popular with this worthy and useful class
of citizens. Soon after the election of Mr. Chase the Major
generously gave a dinner in honor of the event, which was
largely attended and elicited the thanks of his political op-
ponents. About this time he was made inspector of
rifle practice of the Fifth brigade of the New York State
National Guard, with the rank of major.

In the spring of 1886 he was nominated for the presidency
of the Young Men’s association on the opposition ticket,
the regular nominee being Glen Dunham, a wealthy and
popular man. After one of the hottest contests in the his-
tory of the association, Maj. Read was elected by a large
majority. He made a most efficient president, and was
earnestly devoted to the best interests of the association.
His administration was a successful as well as a memorable
one. And for the earnest and continued efforts he made in
having the Bleecker trust fund invested for the benefit of
the association, he deserves great praise. As an Albany
paper remarked when the whole matter was crowned with
success, “ To no one man more than Maj. Read is due the
credit of the work accomplished.” The Major also strongly
advocated the opening of the Y. M. A. rooms during certain
hours on Sunday for the benefit of those young men who
were debarred through the week from enjoying its privileges;
but for lack of a two-thirds vote the proposition failed. In
1886 Major Read was unanimously nominated for alderman
of the thirteenth ward, but declined the honor. It must be
stated that during the bi-centennial he took a lively interest
in its success. He was a member' of the civic day com-
mitteee, which made a great success of the parade over
which it had control ; and of the tableting committee.

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Noted Living Albanians.

whose work left the only enduring memorial of that grand
occasion.

Major Read is a learned and distinguished Mason, having
reached the thirty-second degree. It may be stated here
that his ancestor in the sixth degree was one of the founders
of the first lodge of Masons in America ; that his grandfather,
Chief Justice Read of Pennsylvania, was grand master of
Masons ; that his cousin, Hon. William Thompson Read of
Delaware, held the same position, and his father. General
Meredith Read, has received the highest degree in Masonry
from the grand council of Greece. Major Read, has also
taken most of the degrees in Odd Fellowship.

He is a member of several societies and clubs. While
abroad, he was made a fellow of the Royal Geographical
society of London, and of the Geographical society of Paris,
and a member of the Nobles club in Rome. At home he is
a member of the historical societies of Pennsylvania and
New York, the fraternity Delta Psi ; St Anthony’s and
the Knickerbocker clubs of New York city, both among
the most select in America ; the Fort Orange club, and the
Unconditional republican club, of which he is the first vice-
president, taking a very active part in its business affairs,
and a deep interest in its welfare. He was also one of the
founders of the Historical and Art society of this city.

Major Read has devoted much time to historical research,
and is especially well-versed in antiquarian lore. Of the
foreign languages which he has studied he is best acquainted
with the French, in which he converses fluently. He has
been spoken of several times as a candidate for mayor. His
manly qualities, his various acquirements, and his large
knowledge of the city of his birth would well fit him to fill
so responsible and honorable a position.

Harmon P. Read.

353

Very few Albanians, young or old, have seen as much of
the old world and its noble treasures of the fine arts as
Major Read. He has stood on the very spot at Athens,
under the deep blue skies of that classic land, where Demos-
thenes once thundered forth his orations against Philip of
Macedon, as well as upon the ground at Rome where Cicero
hurled his invectives against Catiline. He has beheld the
beauty and sublimity of the Alps, and the loveliness of
Switzerland’s lakes, as well as those in the “ bonnie ” land
of Burns. He has traveled into the less refined and civilized
countries of Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, and sailed up
the majestic Tagus to the ancient city of Lisbon, beautiful
and striking in the appearance of its groves and gardens and
sunny towers. He has gazed upon the beauty of the Bay
of Naples, and stood in silent awe before Mount Vesuvms.
He has stepped upon the shores of Asia Minor and visited
the Ionian isles, celebrated in classical history and song. He
has visited the domains of the sultan, and walked through
the streets of Constantinople. He has seen many of the
finest specimens of sculpture and painting that are to be
found in the galleries of the old world ; and he has looked
upon all these natural and artistic objects with the culti-
vated tastes of a student and the ardent admiration of a
true lover of nature.

He is unreserved in his manner, companionable in his na-
ture, sunny in his disposition and benevolent in his actions.
His circle of acquaintances is large, including many well-known
society people, and with all classes he is highly popular.

On August 24, 1889, Major Read married Mademoiselle
Marguerite de Carron, the accomplished daughter of the late
Monsieur Frederick de Carron, descended from an ancient
Huguenot family.

WILLIAM P. RUDD.

IN THE field of professional, educational and political
labor, and as possessing the genuine qualities of a true
manhood, no young man amongst us is entitled to a higher
place in the estimation of his fellow-citizens than William P.
Rudd, member of the law firm of Messrs. Harris and Rudd.

Born in Albany on the 9th of June, 1851, he has always
continued to reside here, manifesting a strong love for his
native city and its cherished institutions, whose welfare he
has ever at heart. His father, William T. Rudd, a man well
acquainted with business matters and of strict integrity, was
for more than forty years employed as bank messenger and
passenger conductor on the New York Central railroad, and
since he severed his connection with the company in 1881,
he has been held in the highest esteem by its officers.

The subject of our sketch received his early education in the
public schools of this city and a special preparation for col-
lege at a private school here. In the fall of 1869 he entered
the freshman class, classical course, of Union college. His
student life was marked by devotion to his studies, and
while carrying on his regular and steady work he gave much
time to affairs outside the prescribed course. For two years
he was on the editorial staff of the Union college magazine,
and afterward became the senior editor in charge of the pub-
lication. Chiefly by his literary taste, tact, ability and care-
ful attention this magazine became the largest college

William P. Rudd.

355

monthly published in the United States. It was highly
prized by a large class of readers, and many a well-deserved
tribute was paid to its young, scholarly editor. Fully be-
lieving in the combination of physical and intellectual labor
in the maintenance of the health of both body and mind Mr.
Rudd was active in advancing the interests of Union college
in athletic sports, particularly in boating. He was also chair-
man of the committee of students to raise money for the
building of the college gymnasium, the corner stone of which
was laid on the day the class of which he was a number grad-
uated, and which has since been completed, supplying a long
needed want to an old and honorable institution of learning.

In July, 1873, in the twenty-second year of his age, Mr.
Rudd graduated from Union college with class honors, taking
the Clark essay prize, and Avas one of the speakers on the com-
mencement stage. He was an active and earnest member
of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and was elected to Phi
Beta Kappa. Thus auspiciously leaving the halls of
learning with the promise of the future bright before him, he
was about ready to decide upon some useful profession in
which he should engage in a lifework. At the commence-
ment in June, 1876, Union college conferred the degree of
A. M. upon him. During and previous to his college
course, he had devoted some little time to the preliminary
study of medicine, and had even attended a course of
lectures at the Albany Medical college. But he finally
decided upon the study of the law, and in the fall of 1873 he
was entered as a law student in the office of Messrs. Rey-
nolds and Harris of this city. The individual members of
this noted law firm were John H. Reynolds, Hamilton Har-
ris and Charles W. Reynolds. Here Mr. Rudd continued
his studies until the death of Judge Reynolds and Charles

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Noted Living Albanians.

W. Reynolds, when he became managing clerk in the office
of their successors, Messrs. Harris, and Miller. Under the
teachings of such able instructors and advocates, Mr. Rudd
rapidly advanced in his knowledge of the great principles of
legal science, until in May, 1875, he was admitted to the
bar by the general term of the supreme court then sitting
in Albany. He had also taken the degree of L. B., at the
Albany Law school, and was now soon to begin his long
connection with a well-known firm of this city. In June,
1877, when the firm of Harris and Miller was dissolved, a part-
nership was formed consisting of Hamilton Harris, William
P. Rudd and Frederick Harris, which, as the firm of Harris
and Rudd, continues to this time, and for many years has en-
joyed a lucrative and successful practice to' a marked degree.
This partnership has, we believe, existed longer than that
of any other law firm now practicing in Albany, and in that
sense the firm of Harris and Rudd may be said to be the
oldest in this city in the practice of law.

As a lawyer Mr. Rudd has been successful, and is intrusted
with matters of importance calling for the exercise of good
faith, honest effort and sound judgment — qualities which
are among the brightest ornaments to any member of the
legal profession.

While a student at law Mr. Rudd indulged in some news-
paper work as a correspondent for the New York Herald
and Tribune, and represented the former paper at Saratoga
during the famous inter-collegiate regatta in 1877. Follow-
ing an inclination for athletics, after he left college, he con-
nected himself with the Olympic Boat club, of this city, and
for several years, when the club became famous for its oft- .
repeated victories in many of the greatest regattas held, he
was its captain and rowed in its racing crews.

William P. Rudd.

357

In politics Mr. Rudd’s career deserves more than a
passing notice. In the affairs of the republican party, of
which he is an active and intelligent member, he has taken
a somewhat conspicuous part. For three years he was a
member of its general committee from the strongest repub-
lican ward in Albany, and in May, 1887, was unanimously
elected chairman of the county committee upon a harmo-
' nious organization of the party, as one upon whom all fac-
tions could agree. Under his leadership that year the work
of the party was strong, earnest and effective. A county
convention was held in which all factions participated, and
which was harmonious and enthusiastic — a ticket nominated
and elected. The campaign of that year, resulting in the
election of a county treasurer and senator, was said by mem-
bers of the state committee to have been one of the most
thorough and effective of any in the state.

The counsel and advice of Mr. Rudd are frequently sought
in matters political; and it may be said that if others would
resort to his methods many of the unpleasant and disorgan-
izing conditions might be readily avoided. Thus has Mr.
Rudd already shown his tact, sagacity and boldness in the
arena of politics, in “ a broad, statesman-like and masterly
way.” Upon the organization of the league of republican
clubs he was elected a member of the state executive com-
mittee, representing Albany county, and at the conven-
tion held at Saratoga Springs he was made a mem-
ber of the New York state delegation to the national con-
vention, held at Baltimore. He is one of the staff officers
of the Capital City club and a member of the executive
.committee of the Unconditional club.

But there is another department in which his cultured
mind has taken a deep and abiding interest, and that is in

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Noted Living Albanians.

the cause of education. On the resignation of E. A. Durant,
Jr., from the board of public instruction, June, 1886, Mr.
Rudd was elected to fill the vacancy; in the spring of 1887
he was elected for the full term, and in 1890 re-elected
for three years. Immediately upon familiarizing him-
self with the duties and requirements of the office, he
became active aud earnest in all matters pertaining to the
best interests of the school system. Made a member of the
most important committees he has always given earnest
thought and honest effort to the work of education as con-
ducted by our city. Recognizing his worth as a commis-
sioner after two years’ service his associates elected him
president of the board, in which capacity he served with
credit to himself and for the best interests of the school
system.

The work of this non-partisan board is now entirely har-
monious, and in the opinion of citizens generally is honest
and showing good results. After the course of study and
methods of teaching, particular attention is at present being
given to the condition of the school buildings ; and the year
during which Mr. Rudd presided showed as great, if not
greater advancement, in the condition of buildings and
school accommodations and facilities than ever before.

In the Young Men’s association, believing it a part of the
educational system of the city, Mr. Rudd has taken more
than an active part in the management of its affairs. Elected
recording secretary on the ticket headed by Dr. Jacob S.
Mosher in 1878, the next year he was elected treasurer of the
board, and the year following, after an unusually severe con-
test, was chosen president. Under his administration the
association made commendable progress. A very successful
course of lectures was conducted, a catalogue of the library

William P. Rudd.

359

was printed, and the general tone of the institution strength-
ened. Upon the death of Robert H. Pruyn, Mr. Rudd was
elected to the board of life trustees of the Y. M. A., and
shortly afterward was chosen secretary and treasurer of the
board. For several years he was interested in securing to
the Y. M. A. the benefit of the Bleecker trust, and it is un-
derstood that he was freely consulted by Judge Parker in
the matter of its disposition. He served as chairman of the
committee to devise means for the acceptance of the propo-
sition made by Judge Parker, and drew the report under
which the gift was finally accepted and subscriptions
solicited from the public. He was also a member of the
building committee for the construction of Harmanus
Bleecker hall, and as treasurer disbursed the funds in pay-
ment for the work done. When the subject of erecting a
public library building was agitated he was made a member
of the committee to formulate the plan, and was active in
advancing the project. He is also a trustee of the Albany
County Savings bank, and a member of the Fort Orange club.

In October, 1883, Mr. Rudd was married to Aimee P.
Allen, daughter of the late Henry A. Allen, for many years
teller of the New York State bank. They have one son,
Tracey Allen Rudd.

The work which Mr. Rudd has already accomplished in
the various fields in which he has been employed has
reflected no little credit upon himself, and caused his
name to be widely and favorably known among all classes
of good citizens, irrespective of party. His career thus far,
marked by calmness, dignity and firmness without ostenta-
tion or noisy display, is more like a stream moving along
through plains diversified by beautiful scenery, gradually
gathering strength and volume in its course.

WILLIAM B. RUGGLES

WILLIAM Benjamin Ruggles was born at Bath,
Steuben county, N. Y., on the 14th of May, 1827.
He is the son of William and Mary Ruggles. At the age of
thirteen he was in a Bath printing office, trying to work his
way up from the printer’s case, with the determination of be-
coming some day an educated man. At the same period he
attended a part of the time the public school of Bath, with
a view of preparing himself for a collegiate course. “ We
remember him,” writes one, “ when a boy, as a studious
youth, and call to mind the hours when we found him
stretched out evenings on the old ‘ bank ’ of the printing
office studying his books by the aid of a tallow dip, fitting
himself for entrance to Hamilton college.” In 1846 he had
the great satisfaction of entering Hamilton college, in the
sophomore class, though still obliged during vacation to set
type in order to secure the necessary funds to carry him
through college. He went through, graduating in 1849,
with the highest honors of his class. And we venture to say
that no graduate ever left the halls of that excellent institu-
tion of learning with more scholarly pride and satisfaction
than did young Ruggles with his diploma in hand. While
he had experienced the truth that there is “ no royal road
to learning,” he had also found that his industry and perse-

William B. Ruggles.

verance had overcome all obstacles in the way ; and he
stepped out into the world ready for its more active and
stirring duties — an educated man.

Soon after leaving college in 1849 went to Atlanta,
Ga., and took charge as editor and publisher of the Atlanta
Intelligencer, a leading dernocratic organ at that time. In
1854-5 he was elected an alderman of the city of Atlanta,
and from this date his public official career fully commenced
— a career which has thus far been rendered conspicuous by
a display of fine judicial acumen and high literary tastes.

Selling out his paper and leaving the Sunny South ”
four years before the storm of civil war burst over the coun-
try he came to Clinton, N. Y. Here he commenced the
study of the law under Prof. Theodore W. Dwight of Ham-
ilton college, in the autumn of 1857, admitted to

practice at Utica in the following summer. But after his
admission to the bar he continued his legal studies for a year
or two in the office of the late Hon. Charles H. Doolittle,
of Utica, one of the judges of the supreme court. Retiring
to his native village — the scene of his earliest struggles and
triumphs — he there opened a law office, and soon rose to
distinction as an able and successful counselor. In 1875 he
was chosen a trustee of Bath. This was but a stepping
stone to higher preferment. His abilities becoming more
widely known and more highly appreciated, he was elected
in the fall of 1875 as a democratic member of the state legis-
lature from the county of Steuben, and in the following
year was re-elected to the same office.

We may remark here that Mr. Ruggles has always been a
firm believer in the democratic principles of Jefferson, Jack-
son and Tilden.

In the legislature, during the sessions of 1876 and 1877,

362

Noted Living Albanians.

' he served with distinguished ability on the judiciary com-
mittee and contributed largely to the perfecting and pas-
sage of the Code of Civil Procedure, a measure of legal re-
form which he warmly favored and zealously promoted by
legal arguments on the floor of the assembly.

He also took a leading part in the discussion of all edu-
cational matters, and was especially prominent in the several
animated debates which took place in the assembly, in the
year 1877, in relation to the normal school system of the
state. Mr. Ruggles took decided ground against this system
as an expensive luxury to the state and a great burden to
the tax payers. He defended his position by able argu-
ments and well-chosen words. No man favored the inter-
ests of higher education more than did Mr. Ruggles. It
was the mode of conducting that education in the best and
most practical manner and with the least expense to the
state that called forth his ablest and most eloquent efforts
in the legislature.

On the 30th of January, 1877, he delivered a stirring
speech on the floor of the assembly in favor of the abolition
of the normal schools of the state of New York, on account
of their enormous cost and little use to the people. In
closing his address he summarized the points which his
arguments were intended to establish, in the following
words :

“ Finally, by way of summary, it appears to me that the
following conclusions are justified :

‘‘ I. That these normal schools have become substantially,
merely ‘ large graded schools, with teachers’ classes,’ with
methods of gradation and courses of instruction not mater-
ially different from those prevailing in our numerous acade-
mies and union free schools having academic departm.ents

William B. Ruggles. 363

and teachers’ classes, which are now distributed generally
over the various sections of the state.

“ 2. Our normal schools have become essentially local
schools, filled up almost exclusively with pupils from the
particular localities where they are situated, and do not af-
ford that general benefit to the whole state which was
originally contemplated, and the expectation of which con-
stituted the reason for their creation.

“ 3. They have failed to accomplish the special purpose,
which was the consideration for their establishment and
maintenance by the state, namely, the supply of a considera-
ble proportion of the teachers employed in our common
schools.

“4. The implied contract to teach in the common schools,
as a return for the liberal bounty from the state, has
been very generally disregarded by the pupils who have
received this expensive special course of instruction, a large
majority of them never teaching at all, and probably not in-
tending to, when they declared their intention to teach,
upon entering the normal schools.

“ 5. There is no longer any necessity for the normal schools
as state institutions, since the state has provided other am-
ple and adequate means for supplying competent teachers
for the common schools, by the establishment of teachers’
classes in the academies and academic departments of the
union free schools.

6. By abandoning these eight normal schools to the
several localities immediately interested in them, and which
are receiving about the whole benefit derived from them, a
saving will be effected of about $150,000 annually, with-
out detriment to the general educational -interests of
the state.”

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Noted Living Albanians.

This speech, so searching and thorough in its review and
criticism of the whole normal school system, attracted wide
attentiop. It was very generally copied, and brought out a
wide range of discussion and controversy in the newspaper
press of the state, on the subject of the normal school
system. While this system is still continued, it is conceded
that the effect of this speech and the attraction of public
attention thereby to the subject, has be^n to introduce into
the state normal school system various improvements calcu-
lated to meet defects pointed out by Mr. Ruggles, whereby
the system has been placed upon a sounder and more prac-
ticable basis.

In 1878 Mr. Ruggles was appointed first deputy attorney
general of the state of New York, under Mr. Schoonmaker,
and was retained in the same office under the administra-
tion of the republican attorney-general, Hamilton Ward.
This important position came to Mr. Ruggles by his high
judicial qualities, which were now widely recognized by the
citizens of the state.

In 1882 his term of office as deputy attorney-general hav-
ing expired, he was, on the 14th of March of the following
year, by joint ballot of the senate and assembly, chosen as
state superintendent of public instruction for the term of
three years. Of his election the Troy Times, a leading re-
publican paper, remarked: “Mr. Ruggles is admirably

fitted for the position by natural gifts, training and prev-
ious official experience. ^ ^ While a life-long demo-

crat, Mr. Ruggles is a broad and liberal thinker, and no im-
proper political bias may be looked for in his exercise of the
important educational functions devolving upon him.”

On the 1st of January, 1886, Mr. Ruggles resigned his
office as superintendent of public instruction to assume that

William B. Ruggles.

365

of deputy superintendent and legal counselor of the New
York state insurance department, a position which he now
fills with marked ability.

Mr. Ruggles has published official reports to the legisla-
ture, opinions under the school laws, and addresses delivered
before various educational institutions throughout the
country.

He was ex-officio regent of the university of the state of
New York, a trustee of Cornell and Syracuse universities,
and chairman of the executive committee of the state nor-
mal school at Albany. In 1876 Mr. Ruggles was a delegate
from the twenty ninth congressional district of New York to
the democratic national convention, which met at St. Louis,
and was an ardent advocate and supporter of Samuel J.
Tilden for the presidency.

A true man in the highest sense of the word, with a warm
and generous heart, a lover of good books in all depart-
ments of literature and science, a thoughtful student and an
accomplished scholar, well-versed in all the intricacies of his
chosen profession, William B. Ruggles stands before the
country with a brilliant record, with clean hands and a pure
heart, a typical American citizen, who has risen by his own
unassisted efforts from the humbler walks of life to places of
prominence, responsibility and great usefulness in the ad-
ministration of public affairs, meriting the commendation of
the great masses of his fellow-citizens, and feeling the con-
sciousness of having performed his official duties on the side
of truth, justice and humanity. He is now in the full vigor
of manhood, and in the complicated duties of his office, one
of the hardest-working men in Albany.

HENRY RUSSELL.

IN THE line of mercantile industries, Albany has its fair
share of notable, solid men. And in a special depart-
ment of trade none of our citizens enjoys a higher distinction
than the subject of the present sketch, Hon. Henry Russell,
whose career furnishes another remarkable example of what
may be accomplished by those whose aims in life are high
and honorable and over whose daily walk industry and per-
severance have had a controlling influence.

Born on the 7th of December, 1835, in the town of
Broome, Schoharie county, N. Y., his life opened in the
midst of “ rural sights and rural scenes,” so conducive to
health, virtue and happiness. His father, John Russell, was
a substantial farmer of Schoharie county, and a man of high
character, who drew around him many true, admiring
friends. His grandfather was of New England origin, and
lived in Salem, Mass., till, stirred by the enterprising spirit
of eastern men, he came, nearly a hundred years ago, as a
pioneer to this state, and settled amidst the wilds of old
Schoharie county, where, by the sturdy blows of his axe and
the sweat of his brow, he cleared up the wilderness around
him till the sunlight beamed upon his rustic habitation and his
newly cultivated fields rejoiced with corn, wheat, rye and other
grains, while his garden bloomed with fruits and flowers.

Henry Russell.

367

Like the children of other Schoharie farmers, Henry Rus-
sell was sent at a very early age to the district school, where
he acquired a good education in the elementary branches.
But he was not to have a continuous course of study ending
with a college curriculum. As he grew older and was able
to perform manual labor his services were required on his
father’s farm ; and there, like a dutiful son, he worked hard
through spring, summer and autumn, attending the district
school in the winter till he had reached the age of fourteen.
At that time his father, who also owned a small store in the
vicinity of Franklinton, concluded to take Henry from the
farm, give him a new employment, and the opportunity of
qualifying himself for some commercial business. Accord-
ingly he started out on a market wagon. His route lay be-
tween the villages of Franklinton and Coxsackie, a distance
of about thirty-three miles. And there almost daily for a
period of twelve years the slender, growing figure of young
Henry Russell might have been seen seated upon his mar-
ket wagon behind his trusty horses, traveling over the
roads in all kinds of weather, taking orders, delivering goods,
and carefully keeping account of all his sales. He was thus
laying the foundation of his extensive knowledge of business
— forming those tastes and habits which have since been so
carefully cultivated by him. So faithfully, economically
and persistently did he follow this branch of business that
at the end of six years he had made a little capital, and with
his brother Calvin commenced store-keeping in 1856.
While Calvin attended to the store Henry continued the
delivery business on the road, with which he was so well ac-
quainted, about six years longer. He was a genial, oblig-
ing, popular young man, and many were the sincere wishes
for his future success by his neighbors and acquaintances.

368

Noted Living Albanians.

For about eighteen years did these brothers carry on a
co-partnership business under the firm-name of C. & H.
Russell. During all this time Henry Russell was devoting
what spare time he could command to the study and inves-
tigation of trade and commerce, in which he soon became a
well-trained, self-made student. He read extensively on
subjects connected with this branch, and his early ambition
was to establish a leading business in his favorite depart-
ment. And with the practical knowledge and experience
he had already acquired in this line, he ventured to strike
out where larger opportunities were to be afforded in ma-
turing his original plans. While in business for himself in
Broome Mr. Russell was a frequent visitor to Albany, and
he had fully made up his mind that this city was a good
place for his future operations on a larger scale. And in
1866, a year after the close of the civil war, he came here to
engage in the wholesale flour trade ; and from that period
he became a resident of the city of Albany, and was hence-
forth to be identified with its commercial interests, and a
leading promoter of its municipal prosperity.

In the same year a new flour house was opened here in
what is known as the Delavan block under the firm name
of Russell, Van Pelt & Co. This firm succeeded that of
Lape & Van Pelt, and the individual partners of it were
Calvin Russell, Henry Russell, George H. Van Pelt and
Franklin Krum. Adopting the commission business di-
rectly from the millers, and especially the western produ-
cers, it was not long before the sales of the firm averaged
about 10,000 barrels yearly.

On the retirement of Mr. Krum in 1868, and of Mr. Van
Pelt in 1869, the business was continued by Henry Russell
and his brother, Calvin, under the firm-name of C. & H.

Henry Russell.

369

Russell. During five years the business was continued
under the above firm-name, Henry being the active partner,
after which Calvin retired and Henry conducted the busi-
ness alone.

About that time the machinery was introduced for mak-
ing the Haxall Patent and New Process flour, finally result-
ing in the use of rollers, now so generally adopted by the
great millers of the west. The naturally wide-awake and
progressive spirit of Henry Russell led to a careful investi-
gation of this new method in the manufacture of wheat
flour. Visiting Minneapolis in 1870 and becoming acquain-
ted with Mr. Charles A. Pillsbury, the well-known miller of
that place, he obtained from him a most favorable statement
of the working of the new system of manufacturing flour,
the ultimate success of which he clearly perceived. Secur-
ing the agency of some of the best brands manufactured by
the millers of the country, he devoted all his energies to
selling the same. His success was soon assured. The
great panic of 1873, which was disastrous to so many
throughout the country, was really advantageous to Mr.
Russell, by his obtaining new consignments from shippers
who, in consequence of the universal depression in trade and
commerce, were glad to secure such responsible agents as
Mr. Russell. This at once gave a new impetus to his trade,
and in 1873 his sales are said to have amounted to 70,000
barrels of flour. A continued and rapid increase in his busi-
ness was maintained from that year to the present time.
Two years ago his sales footed up over half a million barrels.

In politics, Mr. Russell has always espoused the principles
of the republican party, and while he was frequently urged
by his friends to enter the field as a candidate for political
honors he invariably declined, until in the fall of 1887 he
47

370

Noted Living Albanians.

was induced to accept the republican nomination for state
senator from the 17th district. His opponent was the young
and popular Norton Chase, ex-member of the legislature.
It was one of the closest and most exciting senatorial con-
tests ever witnessed in this county, the circumstances of
which are still fresh in the minds of the public. After a bit-
ter fight in the supreme court Mr. Russell was declared
elected by eight plurality. In the senate, Mr. Russell was an
active and useful member, courageously supporting the
measures of his party, while exhibiting the characteristics of
a true gentleman to members of the opposite side.

Mr. Russell has filled with honor and efficiency several
official business positions. He was one of the original
stockholders of the Schoharie County National bank, and a
director and vice-president of the same institution. In 1878
he was elected president of the Board of Trade in Albany.
He is at present a director of the Merchants’ National bank
of Albany, and president of the Commercial Union Telegraph
Company.

A man of thorough business qualifications, especially de-
voted to the interests of trade and commerce, honorable and
upright in all his dealings of a public and private nature,
with a mind cultivated by extensive reading, travel and ob-
servation, he is justly regarded as one of Albany’s solid rep-
resentative men, and commands the respect and esteem of
our citizens irrespective of party.

JAMES SHANAHAN.

A STATE official whose long, industrious, persevering
career in mechanical pursuits, and whose works in
different parts of the country evince his superior powers as
a master of his art is the Hon. James Shanahan, superintend-
ent of public works of the state of New York. He belongs
to a class of men whose talents and energy have advanced
and enriched the interests of the empire state by the con-
struction of works intimately connected with the railroads
and canals, trade and commerce.

He is a native of Ireland, and was born on the 6th of
February, 1829, having now reached a period in life in which
high purposes, aims and achievements are usually unfolded
in full power. His ancestors were useful and substantial
citizens of their country, and some of them held responsible
positions. His father, having determined to seek his fortune
in “the land of the free,” cast a last lingering look on the
home of his childhood and then boldly sailed away with his
family from the coasts of “ old Erin ” for American soil.
His son James, the subject of this sketch, was then but eight
years of age, and distinctly remembers the roar and tossings
of old ocean during the voyage. On reaching this country
the family first turned their faces westward, traveling into
central New York and taking up their residence in the rich

372

Noted Living Albanians.

county of Onondaga. There for seven years the elder Mr.
Shanahan, who was not only an enterprising but an indus-
trious man, labored hard to earn a livelihood and to make
suitable provision for his young family. And there James
received a good common school education in the district
school of his neighborhood. This course of elementary in-
struction he turned to practical account in later years.

Learning of the great inducements held out for emigrants
to what was then regarded as the far west, Mr. Shanahan
with his family set out, in 1844, in search of the rich and
fertile prairie lands of Michigan, and after a slow and weari-
some journey reached that state, settling on a farm in the
vicinity of Ann Arbor. James was then fifteen years of age,
and for the two following years he assisted his father in pre-
paring the new land for raising crops. But the monoto-
nous pioneer life of a farmer in the then solitudes of
Michigan had not particular attractions for young Shanahan.

He longed for another kind of work, to which his natural
taste was inclining, and that was in the line of masonry.
His father saw this ruling passion in his boy, and wisely con-
sented that he should serve an apprenticeship in the stone-
cutter’s trade. He did so, and the step he then took he
never afterward regretted. An apt student in what he so
much delighted, he soon mastered his trade ; and a few
years later we find him an assistant to an elder brother, who
was then a large contractor in the building of locks on the
Erie and Oswego canal. Returning nearer the scenes of his
more youthful days he became a studious and faithful as-
sistant to his brother, under whose direction he may be said
to have laid the foundation of his well-earned, high reputa-
tion as a master mechanic and engineer. With the knowl-
edge and experience gained while with his brother he went

James Shanahan.

373

to Lanesboro, Penn., where he was employed in the con-
struction of the viaduct on the Erie railroad. On the com-
pletion of this work he felt himself qualified to undertake
the duties and responsibilities of a contractor ; and to carry
out his plans on a larger scale he entered into partnership
with his brother and two others. The new firm thus con-
stituted was a strong one and soon engaged in various ex-
tensive works, among which was the building of a large por-
tion of the masonry of the New York Central railroad be-
tween Syracuse and Rochester, and the masonry on the Os-
wego railroad.

In 1854 Mr. Shanahan, whose reputation as a skilled me-
chanic was now widely extended through the country, was
engaged in the construction of the “ locks ’’ in the Sault
St. Marie canal. The following year he removed to
Tribes Hill, Montgomery county, N. Y. — ^now his per-
manent residence — while he ably assisted in the construc-
tion of the locks at Waterford.

His judgment in matters outside his occupation, but
closely connected with it, was fully consulted by different
parties, and in 1859 was commissioned by the Dorchester
Freestone Company to examine its quarry property at Dor-
chester, Province of New Brunswick. After giving the subject
a careful investigation, a new quarry was opened there at his
suggestion. In i860 he was placed in full charge of the prop-
erty, with highly satisfactory results. A large quantity of
the stone was shipped to New York city and sold at a
handsome profit to the company, which, under his superin-
tendency, was not obliged to assess itself to supply funds for
carrying on its operations. In 1861 Mr. Shanahan was com-
pelled to remain at home, and during that year the Free-
stone company ran behind some $6,000 in its assets. His

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Noted Living Albanians.

sendees were again sought after by the company, and upon
its earnest request he resumed direction of the quarries,
which, under his judicious management, were again worked
with success and profit. The practical suggestions which
he made, and the excellent judgment which he showed,
both in masonry, quarry and engineering matters, were
placing the name of ^Ir. Shanahan still more prominently
before the public as a man of genuine merit and eminent
skill. ^

From 1864 to 1866, inclusively, he was engaged first in
furnishing stone for the erection of the New York Central
Railroad elevator at Albany, and also for the first railroad
bridge, called the north bridge, and afterward in the con-
struction of the dam at Cohoes, an immense structure four-
teen hundred feet long. This great work, so valuable to the
spindle city, was completed in the course of one season, and
stands as a noble monument to the skill of its builder.

In 1868 Mr. Shanahan was appointed superintendent of
section No. 3, of the Erie canal — a position which he filled
with honor and fidelity until his retirement from the office
at the close of 1870. It may be stated in this connection,
that Mr. Shanahan has always been a warm friend and ad-
vocate of our canals, and no official has ever watched over
their affairs with more faithfulness or higher devotion.

On relinquishing his office as superintendent of the Erie
canal ^Ir. Shanahan was inspired with a new ardor for his
early, cherished, regular occupation, the duties of which he
now hastened to resume. One of his first contracts was for
furnishing the stone for the new Hudson river bridge across
the Hudson at the foot of Maiden lane, Albany, constructed
by the Hudson River Bridge Company. Subsequently he
built the masoniy^'for the double tracks of the Hudson

James Shanahan.

375

River railroad between Fort Plain and Little Falls, and fur-
nished the stone for the section between Schenectady and
Albany. The viaduct at Broadway, Albany, was success-
fully constructed by Mro Shanahan in 1882.

Though not a politician by profession yet Mr. Shanahan
has been called to serve the state in a legislative capacity.
Always an active member of the democratic party he had
little or no ambition for partizan honors or rewards for
faithful service. But yielding to the requests of his friends
he received, in 1868, the nomination for member of assembly
from Montgomery county, and came within a few votes of
being elected. The following year, however, he was re-
nominated and elected by a majority of 600 over the repub-
lican nominee, thus changing the majority on the state
ticket from 200 republican, as it was in 1868, to nearly 400
democratic. His election was a flattering compliment to
his high character as a man and his accomplishments as a
mechanic, and fully evinced his great popularity among his
fellow-citizens, irrespective of party.

In the assembly Mr. Shanahan served on two important
committees — those on canals and the sub-committee of the
whole ; while he was also placed on the committee on pub-
lic printing. He w^as regarded as a solid, working member,
possessed of a cool judgment and remarkable energy, with a
steady adherenjce to his political principles, seeking to pro-
mote the welfare of his party and to meet with the general
approval of his constituents.

For several years after the expiration of his legislative
term Mr. Shanahan followed his regular business, until in
1878, when he was appointed assistant superintendent of
public works of the state of New York. In January, .1883,
he was appointed by Gov. Cleveland as head of the depart-

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Noted Living Albanians.

ment — an appointment which people of both parties looked
upon as one that could not have easily been improved.
Now in his true element, perfectly at home in all the duties
and obligations pertaining to his office — the right man in
the right place — he still continues to administer the public
affairs of his department in an acceptable manner. In many
respects Mr. Shanahan is a remarkable man. From his long
experience in works of construction he has gained a perfect,
practical knowledge of engineering as applied to practical
construction ; and it is but just to say that he admirably
fills his present important and responsible office. A man of
great perseverance and energy as well as skill he successfully
infuses his spirit into his subordinates with the happiest re-
sults. Always busy, and at the same time cool, deliberate,
thoughtful, he carries on the daily duties of his office in a
thorough, systematic manner.

Tall in person, with a plain, open countenance, simple in
his manners and agreeable in his conversation, he exhibits
strong mental characteristics, especially in his chosen pro-
fession, without the least affectation, pride or vanity.

In tracing his career from the time when, as a poor boy,
he commenced his apprenticeship as a stonecutter at Syra-
cuse, and noticing the numerous and important works which
he has since accomplished one cannot but be favorably im-
pressed with his indefatigable industry and unyielding perse-
verance, his constant, earnest effort to rise higher in the
knowledge of his calling, and above all his uncommon skill
which enabled him to successfully complete those works,
causing his name to shine as a star of no small magnitude
in the horizon of the mechanical world.

In October, 1854, Mr. Shanahan married Ellen, daughter
of James and Ellen Maloy of Ann Arbor, Mich.

HIRAM E. SICKELS.

A REPRESENTATIVE Albanian, a lawyer by , pro-
fession and widely known state reporter, that is, as
the reporter of the New York state court of appeals, is the
Hon. Hiram E. Sickels. In the beautiful village of Albion,
Orleans county, N. Y., he first saw the light on the 24th of
June, 1827. He belongs to the old Holland Dutch extrac-
tion— a race that took such a leading part in the rise and
progress of free institutions in the early history of our
country. He is a son of Hiram Sickels, who was born in
1796 and who died in Albany in 1872. His mother was

Lana (Lasher) Sickels, who was of German origin and of
unusual strength of mind. His grandfather was Zachariah
Sickels of Hoosick ; and his great great-grandfather was the
Hon. Zachariah Sickels of Troy, N. Y., member of assembly,
county judge and supervisor. His ancestor who first
reached this country was Zachariah Sickels, who came to
Albany as corporal in the service of the West India Com-
pany as early as 1648. The family originally came from
Austria, where the name was Zikkel ; after their removal
to Holland it was Zickelson, and finally the son was
dropped leaving the present name.

Hiram E. Sickels, the subject of this sketch, was educated
at the Albion academy and was there noted for his diligence

3;8

Noted Living Albanians.

in study and for the rapid progress he made in the general
branches of knowledge. On leavingThe academy it was his
intention to enter college, but other and more pressing
duties required his immediate attention. From his youth
his aspirations appear to have been directed toward the
study of the law ; and at the early age of sixteen he became
a student in the law office of Curtis & Stone at Albion. In
1848 he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of
his profession at Medina, N. Y., where for about thir-
teen years we find him busily engaged in laying the
foundation of a good legal reputation among the citizens of
his native town and county. But his legal practice was to
be temporarily relinquished by the breaking out of the civil
war, which called to arms so many of our young men engaged
in the peaceful occupations and professions of civil life. In-
heriting the soldierly qualities of some of his ancestors the
patriotic and martial spirit of young Sickels was thoroughly
aroused, and early in 1862, he was heartily engaged in rais-
ing the 17th N. Y. volunteer battery of light artillery ; and
when on the 26th of August of the same year that dashing,
spirited company of artillerists was ready to start for the
seat of war to do effective service in a loyal cause our young
lawyer was commissioned its first lieutenant. During
all those subsequent days of alternate disaster and success
he displayed invincible courage and lofty patriotism, and
with his face set “ like a flint against the foe he remained
on hostile fields until the final sound of battle had died away
on the plains around Richmond. Some of the memorable
military movements in which Lieutenant Sickels took an ac-
tive part were in the capture of Fort Fisher, in nearly all
the battles around Richmond, in the series of sharp conflicts
in front of Petersburg, in the fierce battle of Five Forks —

Hiram E. Sickels.

379

which resulted in the evacuation of that stronghold and the
fall of Richmond, and, finally, in the pursuit of Lee until the
famous surrender at Appomattox. When Lieutenant Sickels
was mustered out of the army he was breveted captain for
the gallant and efficient services he had rendered — services
which his loyal countrymen will always gratefully remember.

The war ended. Captain Sickels, with the consciousness of
having faithfully performed his duties as a patriot and soldier,
returned to the home of his childhood and resumed the prac-
tice of law at Medina. It is scarcely necessary to say that
his popularity was greatly increased, especially among the
loyal citizens of his native county, for the noble part he had
taken in the war for the Union.

Mr. Sickels was then a popular young war democrat ;
and soon after his return from sanguinary fields of strife to
follow his loved profession in the arena of legal warfare he
was nominated by the democratic party as its candidate for
justice of the supreme court, his opponent being that dis-
tinguished and able lawyer and jurist, Hon. John Talcott.
The district was strongly republican, but Mr. Sickels ran
over 6,000 ahead of his ticket, carrying his own county by
about 1,200 majority, while it went republican on the gen-
eral ticket by about 1,500; and in his own village, which
gave about 400 republican majority, only fourteen votes
were cast against him. This was certainly a striking evi-
dence of popular regard, of which any political candidate
might well be proud.

In 1871, Mr. Sickels, in looking around for a wider field
for legal practice than that afforded in a rural district, se-
lected Albany as his permanent residence, and here he has
ever since continued to live. He was not long in establish-
ing a high reputation for professional abilities’ in the old

380

Noted Living Albanians.

Dutch city, which he has deeply loved for its varied attrac-
tions as well as for his forefathers’ sakes. In 1872 he was
appointed state reporter, a position which he still holds with
dignity and honor. He has labored earnestly, continuously,
and successfully in this department of legal work, and his
carefully edited reports, now numbering over seventy-six oc-
tavo volumes, are in the hands of every lawyer practicing in
our higher courts. Besides his special duties connected
with the court of appeals he has also been frequently en-
gaged as referee in a large number of important litigations.
His knowledge of the law in all its branches is thorough and
extensive, his arguments are clear and convincing, and his
decisions uniformly correct. He is a member of the faculty
of the Albany Law school, and for fourteen years has lec-
tured to the students there on the law of evidence. His
lectures are replete with profound learning, elaborate re-
search, and eminently suggestive statements, and are of
great practical value to the young students.

Upon the organization of the civil service of the state,
under the act of 1883, Mr. Sickels was appointed by the
civil service commissioners chairman of the state board of
examiners, which position he held until 1888. He is still a
very close student and hard worker in whatever pertains to
his chosen profession. He is a member of the Fort Orange
club, the Holland society, the Masonic fraternity, etc. In
1852 he married Miss Caroline A. Fairman.

With a soldierly bearing, a tall, robust figure and sound
constitution, a rather stern countenance, but at the same
time possessed of a genial nature, courteous, companionable,
and high-minded — Mr. Sickels has now reached the full
maturity of his intellectual powers and enjoys the entire
confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens.

CHARLES RUFUS SKINNER

Among the younger men whose experience in matters
pertaining to state, national and educational affairs
has already ^been quite extensive and highly beneficial to his
fellow-citizens, is the Hon. Charles R. Skinner, who, on ac-
count of his official relations, is now a resident of Albany.
Born on the 4th of August, 1844, at Union Square, Oswego
county, N. Y., he is a son of the late Hon. Avery Skinner,
a worthy New England pioneer who left the granite hills of
New Hampshire to seek a home in the richer northern
regions of New York state. In October, 1816, when but
twenty years old, he left the paternal roof in New
Hampshire and rode on horseback all the way through the
wilderness or thinly settled regions of the country until he
reached Watertown, where he first made his home. The
village at that time contained less than five hundred inhabi-
tants, according to a census taken by Mr. Skinner soon after
his arrival. Mr. Skinner had been engaged in teaching at
Chesterfield, N. H., and immediately upon reaching Water-
town he was engaged to teach the village school. He spent
eight years in Watertown teaching, keeping books for mer-
cantile houses and recording deeds and mortgages in the
county clerk’s office.

About the year 1824, he set out again for the purpose of

382

Inoted Living Albanians.

taking up a large tract of land in Oswego county. This he
found in the town of Mexico, and locating at U nion Square, a
place named by himself, the exact geographical center of the
county, he set to work in earnest in leveling the forests
around him and in clearing up the country. He was active
in surveying and building plank roads from Watertown to
Syracuse, and from Rome to Oswego, which roads crossed
at Union Square. These were soon very prosperous routes
and favorite lines of travel. It was no uncommon thing in
later years to see eight or more four-horse Concord coaches
halting at this center at one time for change of horses and
mails. More mail was then handled there in distributing
to various points than is now handled in some cities. In
1852, upon the completion of the Rome and Watertown
railroad, a sudden end came to stage enterprises in that
section. Mr. Skinner thus grew up with the place and be-
came a useful, active and prominent citizen, whose services
were of great value to the community in which he lived.
He was a man of no ordinary natural abilities. In politics
he was a democrat of the Jeffersonian school, a personal
friend of Horatio Seymour, Silas Wright and other promi-
nent democrats, and responsible political honors were re-
peatedly conferred upon him. For twelve years he was
judge and county treasurer of Oswego county. In 1832 and
1833 he was elected to the assembly from his district, and
in 1836-41 was chosen state senator, serving faithfully in
that body two terms.

In 1844 he was the democratic candidate for congress
from his district, which was then largely republican or whig.
December 13, 1823, he was commissioned by John McLean,
postmaster-general, as postmaster at Union Square, an office
which he held for fifty years, amidst all the changes in the

Charles R. Skinner. 383

national administration. This venerable man died in 1876,
at the age of eighty.

Charles R. Skinner, the subject of this sketch, spent the
first sixteen years of his life on his father’s farm, attending
the district school in the winter. But he seems to have
been more devoted to his books than to farming, and before
he was seventeen years of age he had comirienced his
academic studies at Mexico, and had successfully taught the
district school near his own home. Thus early were the
lines of his thought and his natural genius indicated.

From 1861 to 1867 Mr. Skinner engaged in various pur-
suits, his one purpose being to earn his own living, com-
plete his education, and enter upon a college course and a
profession, hoping in the end to enter the legal profession.

At various times he was assistant postmaster at Watertown
— leaving his work to teach the school two winters at his own
home, to attend the Clinton Liberal Institute for a while,
and to complete a full course at Mexico academy, graduating
as valedictorian from the latter in 1866, with the full pur-
pose of entering upon a college course. In this ambition he
was disappointed — a disappointment which has never been
removed. He spent a year as teacher in the Mexico aca-
demy under Professor W. M. McLaughlin. During the
year he was nominated for school commissioner in the third
Oswego district, but declined the nomination. During his
school work at Mexico he was instrumental in securing
courses of lectures b)^ the best lecturers in the country.
These were not only interesting but profitable to the society
having them in charge.

In December, 1867, he gave up teaching and study and
accepted a position with the Walter A. Wood Mowing and
Reaping Machine Company of Hoosick Falls, and was placed

384

Noted Living Albanians.

in charge of the New York city branch of the business, hav-
ing charge of territory in New Jersey, south-western New
York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the south. He remained
here until March, 1870, when in response to urgent appeals
from his father, then in poor health, he returned to the farm,
which he carried on for a year. During the year, however,
he purchased a third interest in the Watertown Daily
Times and Reformer, his associates being Lotus Ingalls and
Beman Brockway, two well-known and experienced news-
paper men.

Mr. Skinner’s love for newspaper work commenced in his
youth. Encouraged by the attention of Stephen C. Miller,
the editor of the Pulaski Democrat, he began when very
young to send the news ” of his locality to the Democrat
every week, and has some claim as a pioneer” in the field
of local correspondence. While attending the academy at
Mexico he spent his leisure hours in learning how to set
type in the office of the Independent^ whose proprietors gave
him every encouragement and facility. Mr. Henry Hum-
phries, then one of the proprietors, still edits the paper. To
his kindness Mr. Skinner has always felt indebted in pur-
suing his newspaper work ; and the atmosphere of a print-
ing office seemed to have attractions for him at all times.

In May, 1870, he took up his permanent residence in
Watertown, as city editor and business manager of the
Times and Reformer. He has always said that the best
years and the best energies of his life were devoted to the
newspaper field into which he then entered. He had the
pleasure of seeing the Watertown Times become a prosper-
ous and influential journal. He and his associates spared
no pains to make it so, and for many years all profits were
expended in increasing facilities — which were always fol-

Charles R. Skinner.

385

lowed by increasing lists and patronage. Mr. Henry A.
Brockway now has his time fully occupied as business man-
ager, with plenty of assistance, and the city editor has two
assistants in his work. This shows the growth and prosperity
of the newspaper and of the thriving and beautiful city in
which it is published.

In 1874 Mr. Skinner severed his connection with the
Times and Reformer, disposing of his interest to his partner,
Mr. Brockway, who with his sons, has since managed the
publication with great success. It was not Mr. Skinner’s in-
tention to remain long out of the journalistic field, for he
found that fascination in newspaper work so often found by
others and which it is hard to throw off. His tastes have
always been in the direction of journalism, which he is never
disposed to deny. He has hosts of friends in the profession
throughout the state, and still has a strong hold upon the
friendship of the many friends he made while active in the
work. But he was destined to enter other fields, still main-
taining his intention of ultimately returning to the quill and
scissors. In 1889, at its annual meeting, the New York
State Press Association elected Mr. Skinner a life member
of that body.

Mr. Skinner always took an active interest in all things
connected with the prosperity and progress of Watertown.
As secretary of the Manufacturers’ Aid association in 1876,
he prepared an elaborate pamphlet showing the advantages
of the city as a manufacturing point. P'or many years he
was treasurer of the Watertown fire department and was
instrumental in inducing the fire department to purchase
the first steam fire engine used in the city.

Though reared amid democratic surroundings — “though his
father lived -and died a staunch democrat of th6 old school
49

386

Noted Living Albanians.

— Charles R. Skinner has always been an unswerving re-
publican, identifying himself with that party as soon as he
became of age.

In 1874, Mr. Skinner was nominated for alderman of his
ward, but did his best to see that he was not elected. In
1875 he was elected a member of the board of education of
the city, being twice re-elected, and holding the office until
1884, identifying himself closely with the educational inter-
ests of the city. In 1875 he was nominated as member of
assembly from the first district of Jefferson county. Fear-
ing that holding the office of school commissioner for the
city brought him within the provision of the amendments of
the state constitution, adopted in 1874, which made all city
officers ineligible as candidates for the legislature, he with-
drew as a candidate. The question was decided in the leg-
islature in the case of Senator Gerard, of New York city,
that the office was not under the city government.

In 1876 he was unanimously nominated for the assembly,
and elected by 1,416 majority over A. P. Smith, the demo-
cratic nominee. During his first legislative term Mr. Skinner
was chairman of the committee of public printing, and a
member of the committee on insurance. He exhibited the
qualities of a ready debater in the assembly, was earnest and
forcible in his delivery, and took a leading part in the dis-
cussion of legislative measures, earning an excellent reputa-
tion for a new member. During the session of 1877 he in-
troduced and pushed to its passage the bill prohibiting
frequent changes in text-books in schools. In 1878 he was
re-elected to the assembly, by a majority of 998 over William
H. Eastman. While retaining the chairmanship of public
printing during his second legislative term, he was also a
member of the committee on the affairs of cities, and on

Charles R. Skinner.

387

internal affairs. In the legislature of that session he was
an earnest opponent of proposed modifications of the exist-
ing excise laws — a subject which has caused so much
trouble and perplexity to successive legislatures down to the
present time.

Meeting with the approval of his constituents as a legisla-
tor, Mr. Skinner was returned to the assembly in the au-
tumn of 1879 by a majority of 1,042 over Luther H. Bishop.
During the session which followed he introduced a bill,
which passed both houses, reducing legislative expenses and
cutting down superfluous rolls of useless employees. He
never urged that officers of the legislature should serve for
inadequate salaries, but insisted that sinecures should be
abolished, after the employment of sufficient force to trans-
act public business. He also introduced an amendment to
the state constitution, which he defended with singular
ability, amending the constitution in the direction of bien-
nial sessions of the legislature. This amendment passed
both houses of the legislature. In November, 1879, be was
again re-elected over A. P. Sigourney by an increased ma-
jority. He once more came forward in defense of his favorite
biennial amendment, which, though passing the house, was
defeated in the senate. Such a measure was favored by
Gov. Cornell in his message of 1882. As chairman of the
committee on railroads in the session of 1879-80, Mr.
Skinner took a very active part in reporting and advocating
the anti-discrimination freight bill, and the five-cent fare on
the New York elevated railroads.

Mr. Skinner again carried his district for member of assem-
bly in 1880, being the fifth consecutive time, by a majority of
1,653 over James M. Cleveland. Entering upon his duties
in the session of 1881 he advocated, among other measures.

388

Noted Living Albanians.

the street-cleaning bill for New York city, and during
the same memorable session he was an energetic and
powerful opponent of the return of Messrs. Conkling and Platt
to the United States senate. He had voted for the return
of Mr. Conkling in 1879 election of Mr. Platt in

January, 1881, but he represented the wishes of a large ma-
jority of his constituents in opposing the re-election of these
gentlemen after their resignation. He was an earnest sup-
porter of Chauncey M. Depew and William A. Wheeler
through over fifty ballots. Upon the withdrawal of Mr.
Depew he supported Warner Miller and E. G. Lapham, who
were elected after a well-known struggle.

In 1878, Mr. Skinner was appointed a member of a special
committee of the assembly, to consider and report whether
the state normal schools were fulfilling their original purpose,
and what legislation, if any, was necessary to increase their
usefulness. An elaborate report was made by this commit-
tee to the succeeding legislature.

Taken altogether, the legislative career of Mr. Skinner
furnishes a bright page in his history and reflects honor upon
his constituents. At the close of his work in our state leg-
islature he was selected to go up higher in the political scale.
In October, 1881, he was nominated by acclamation for rep-
resentative in congress to succeed Warner Miller from the
twenty-second district, composed of the counties of Jeffer-
son, Herkimer and Lewis, and was elected over Hon. John
Lansing, his competitor, by a majority of 3,i53» This was
certainly a remarkable recognition of the strength of Mr.
Skinner as a politician and a standard-bearer of the republi-
can party.

In 1882 Mr. Skinner was unanimously re-nominated for
congress, and thirty-one of thirty-two delegates to the dem.o-

Charles R. Skinner.

389

cratic congressional convention were in favor of indorsing
the nomination. The one delegate, however, was permitted
to make a nomination, and L. C. Davenport, of Lowville,
was Mr. Skinner’s competitor. This was the year of the un-
fortunate Folgef campaign, and 6,000 republicans did not
go to the polls. The republican majority of 3,000 in the
district was turned into a democratic majority of nearly
4,000, but Mr. Skinner was re-elected by a majority of nearly
1 ,400.

In the Forty-seventh congress, Mr. Skinner was a member
of the committees on patents and accounts. In the Forty-
eighth congress he was a member of the committee on post-
offices and post roads, thus finding congenial and useful
work. In this congress he introduced and advocated a bill
reducing letter postage from three to two cents. Several
similar bills were introduced, and the reduction was made.
He was the author of the measure providing for the special
delivery of letters, which, through his watchfulness, became
a law. This system now yields a handsome profit to the
government, and is a well-known convenience to the public.
Mr. Skinner also introduced and urged to passage through
his committee and the house, the law giving letter carriers a
vacation. He was also active in urging the extension of the
free delivery system to villages of ten thousand inhabitants,
and in securing allowance for rent and clerkships in third-
class post-offices. Mr. Skinner took an active interest in
congressional work, attempted to keep himself informed in
regard to legislative topics, the demands of his constituents,
promptly answered a large correspondence, and was specially
active in pushing to settlement the pension claims of the
veterans of the war.

Mr. Skinner was an earnest opponent of the Chinese re-

390

Noted Living Albanians.

strictive act, taking the ground that the United States was
bound to keep the terms of the treaties made with China.
One of his strongest speeches was upon this subject. An-
other speech took strong ground in favor of prompt action
to suppress polygamy. He also made a carefully prepared
speech against the Morrison tariff bill in 1883, and he was
active in debates on post-office questions.

In 1884 he was appointed by Speaker Carlisle one of the
board of visitors at West Point. Among his associates were
General Rosecrans and Mr. Waring of Newport. The
report made to congress by this board was one of the
most exhaustive ever presented on the subject. In this
connection it is fair to say that Mr. Skinner has always ex-
pressed great admiration for Mr, Carlisle, both as a gentle-
man and as a presiding officer. It is difficult to see, says Mr.
Skinner, how any man can be a more impartial speaker than
Mr. Carlisle proved himself. Every man received his rights
from Mr. Carlisle, no matter what his politics were.

On the 4th of March, 1885, Mr. Skinner closed his con-
gressional experience. In 1884 his county unanimously
gave him its delegates for a re-nomination, but St. Lawrence
county had become a part of the congressional district by
the re-apportionment of 1883, and insisted upon nominating a
St. Lawrence county candidate. Mr. Skinner retired from
office with no regrets or heart-burnings, and with a full
measure of gratitude to his constituency who had so often
honored him with their confidence and their suffrages.

It is to Mr. Skinner’s credit that every political office
held by him has come through unanimous nominations by
the conventions. He has never known what it was to enter
a protracted struggle for delegates. He long held the
confidence of his party, and in 1876 was chosen secretary of

Charles R. Skinner.

391

the Jefferson county republican committee. His ability as
an organizer was promptly recognized in many circles and
for nine years, with the exception of 1882, he was chairman
of the county committee of Jefferson.

Upon leaving congress, Mr. Skinner was engaged to edit
the Watertown Daily Republican, published by his former
partner, Mr. Ingalls, until January 1886, when he became
for a few months city editor at his. old post on the Water-
town Daily Times. In April of that year, however, he was
appointed by Superintendent Draper, deputy superintendent
of public instruction of the state of New York. No two
officials ever worked more thoroughly in harmony than Su-
perintendent Draper and his deputy, nor have men ever la-
bored more faithfully to advance the best interests of educa-
tion. Mr. Skinner confesses that he thoroughly enjoys his
work, and his surroundings. He was re-appointed April 7,
1889, and will serve until 1892.

In 1889, he compiled an elaborate work, entitled the
Arbor Day Ma7iMal, in which he collected a large amount of
interesting literature relating to trees, forests, flowers, etc.

In June, 1889, Hamilton college, as if to mollify his dis-
appointment in not securing a collegiate education, con-
ferred upon Mr. Skinner the honorary degree of Master of
Arts.

In 1874 Mr. Skinner married Miss S. Elizabeth Baldwin,
daughter of D. W. Baldwin, a prominent citizen of Water-
town. Aside from deep griefs which have come, as they
come to all, his married life has been one of great delight.
He is passionately fond of his family, and spends his leisure
hours at home with his wife and children, who constitute his
truest happiness. His family have always accompanied him
in his life at Albany and Washington. He has three inter-

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Noted Living Albanians.

esting boys, aged four, seven and fourteen years, and an in-
fant daughter ; and he has been called upon to mourn the
death of two beautiful daughters, Alice, who died in 1882,
at the age of eight, and Bessie, who died in this city May
14th, 1889.

A man of ordinary size, with a dark complexion, earnest
and impressive countenance, cordial and friendly in his man-
ner, and popular with the. masses, Mr. Skinner is one who
cannot fail to command the respect and confidence of men
of all political associations.

ELNATHAN SWEET.

IN THE profession of a surveyor and civil engineer, a
name known far and near is that of Elnathan Sweet — -a
man who for the past fourteen years has claimed the city of
Albany as his residence. He was born in Cheshire, Mass.,
on the 20th of NoV'ember, 1837. He comes from a New
England ancestry, noted for their enterprise, solidity and
high character, and for the active part they took in pioneer
work in this section of the country, and in the dissemination
of moral and religious principles in their communities. His
father. Rev. Elnathan Sweet, was an earnest, eloquent and
pious minister of the Baptist church, who for many years
preached in Cheshire and Adams, Mass., and who removed
to Stephentown, Rensselaer county, N. Y., in 1842, and
carried on a very successful pastorate there until his death,
in 1879, eighty-two. His mother, whose

maiden name was Chloe Cole, was a daughter of a substan-
tial farmer of Berkshire, Mass. She died in 1872, at the age
of sixty-eight. Of this old couple it may truly be said that
they were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their
deaths were not long divided.

His great-grandfather, Elnathan Sweet, removed from
Dutchess county^ N. Y., to Stephentown about the year
1762, and was one of the first settlers of that fertile region.

394

Noted LivinCx A [.banians.

He made his home on a tract of five hundred acres, which was a
part of the land of the manor of Rensselaerwyck, situated
about four miles from Lebanon Springs, where he built a log-
house and went to work to clear up the forests around him.
This large farm has remained in possession of the Sweet
family for over a hundred years, the greater part of it being
still owned by the present Elnathan Sweet, who has paid
many a pleasant visit in later years to the old homestead,
where once “ his childhood fancy strayed.” Among other
New England pioneers who found their way to Stephen-
town — named in honor of Stephen Van Rensselaer, the
patroon of the manor — about the year 1766, where Joshua,
Caleb and Benjamin Gardner, three brothers of good scrip-
tural names suggestive of subduing a wilderness land, Na-
than Rose, Alexander Brown, Joseph Rogers and old Asa
Douglas, whose grandson, Asa Douglas, is said to have
been the first child born in Stephentown. And it may be
stated here that the great statesman, Stephen A. Douglas
of Illinois, was a descendant of this family.

Elnathan Sweet, the subject of this memoir, was about
five years old when his parents removed to Stephentown,
and there he grew up strong and healthy in the midst of a
beautiful, bold and striking scenery. His education was
carefully attended to by thoughtful and .vigilant parents.
He was first sent to the public school of Stephentown, and
being naturally of a studious disposition and apt in learning,
his parents encouraged him to keep right on in the pathway
of knowledge. He gladly followed their advice, and was
prepared for a collegiate course at the Hancock select school.
In 1857 he entered the junior class of Union college and
graduated there in the scientific course in 1859, the age
of twenty-one. By his tastes and inclinations from early

Elnathan Sweet.

395

youth he was designed for a surveyor and civil engineer, and
like a true, earnest student, desiring of excelling in some
special study, he bent all his energies toward mastering the
details of the particular subject of engineering ; and how
well he has succeeded in accomplishing the grand aims of
his early studies in this department, his subsequent career
fully shows.

After his collegiate graduation he was appointed deputy
surveyor in Kansas and Nebraska, under Gen. Ward B. Bur-
nett, surveyor-general of that then new and undeveloped re-
gion, where thriving towns and villages have since sprung
up on every side. When young Sweet arrived there the
wounds of “ bleeding Kansas ” had but recently been healed,
and the virgin soil of the new territory was just ready to be
cultivated by true, law-abiding pioneers, and vast extents of
wild lands were soon to be turned into fruitful fields, pro-
ducing golden harvests, throughout the great west. Our
young and adventurous surveyor and engineer remained in
those wild, waste western regions about a year, actively en-
gaged in public land survey. But while discharging his du-
ties there he was seized with an intermittent fever, and
obliged to return home to regain his health, which required
about two years to re-establish.

With his characteristic energy and love of adventure he
went to Pennsylvania and re-entered the engineering busi-
ness, opening an office at Franklin, Venango county, in the
midst of the oil regions. There he followed his profession
with constant activity until 1867, and in the following win-
ter, went to the West Indies as engineer and superintendent
of the Santo Domingo Copper company.

In the spring of 1869, having finished his West India
work, he returned to the United States with an excellent

396

Noted Living Albanians.

reputation as an accomplished engineer, and going to Chi-
cago, assumed the position of chief engineer of the Rock Is-
land and St. Louis railroad. While in this capacity he soon
became general superintendent of the road — an office he
held until 1872, when a still wider field of professional activ-
ity was opened to him. The building of the Northern Pa-
cific railroad was then exciting general attention, especially
through the rapidly developing western country. Mr.
Sweet saw at a glance what immense advantages the nation
would gain on the completion of such an enterprise, and re-
moving to Minnesota, he was engaged for two years as en-
gineer and contractor in the construction of this road.

Returning to New York state near the close of 1874 he
opened an engineering office in the city of New York ; but
not entirely satisfied with metropolitan life he removed, in
^ the spring of 1875, to All^any, and became a permanent
resident here. His busy career and eminent professional
services were still to be continued in the interests of the
public. He was immediately selected as the expert engineer
of the Tilden canal investigating committee appointed by
Gov. Tilden to unearth the irregularities and, if possible, to
remove the abuses in the old system of letting contracts in
that department. In 1876 — the centennial year — he was
appointed engineer of the eastern division of the state canal,
comprising the Erie canal from Albany to Rome, the Black
river and the Champlain canal, and held that office until the
summer of 1880, when he resigned to resume his business as
contracting engineer. While division engineer he made a
series of experiments in determining the laws governing the
propulsion of vessels in narrow channels — the results of which
were given by him in an elaborate paper which was read
before the American society of civil engineers at its twelfth

Elnathan Sweet.

397

annual convention, May 25th, 1880, and published in its
“ Transactions.’’ This paper attracted wide notice at the
time of its publication and its statements are strengthened
by correct mathematical demonstration. In 1878 he was
elected a member of the American society of civil engineers.

In 1879-80 Mr. Sweet made a thorough investigation of
the system of the New York elevated railroads and prepared
a paper which was adopted as a report of the railroad com-
mittee of the assembly.

From 1880 to 1883 he was chiefly engaged in large rail-
road contracts, mostly on the West Shore line, where he
built the great West Point tunnel and about fifty miles of
the road north from Catskill to Albany.

The state at that time required his services in furtherance
of its important engineering interests, and in the fall of 1883
he was nominated by the democratic party as a candidate
for the office of state engineer and surveyor, and elected by
a plurality of .18,842 over his opponent, Hon. Silas Seymour.
So acceptable and popular were his services to the people of
the state, that he was re-elected in the fall of 1885, by 12,249
plurality over the republican candidate William V. Van
Rensselaer. His administration was eminently successful ;
one of its most important acts in the interests of the canals
was the system of enlarging the locks. As a friend of the
canals he also wrote a paper on the importance of the arti-
ficial waterways, which was read at the annual convention
of the American society of civil engineers at Buffalo, on
the loth of June, 1884, afterward published in its

‘‘ Transactions.”

Since leaving the office of state engineer and surveyor Mr.
Sweet has devoted most of his time to the building of
bridges, making this a specialty. He is now president of

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Noted Living Albanians.

the Hilton Bridge Construction Company of this city, whose
shops are located on Bridge street in the lumber district,
where ample facilities are found for carrying on work on the
largest scale, including not only the construction of steel and
iron bridges, but in the manufacture of irOn and steel roofs,
girders, beams and heavy architectural wrought-iron and
steel work generally. He was recently elected a director of
the Albany Railway Company.

Mr. Sweet has published a technical paper on the con-
struction of bridges, and besides other contributions al-
ready mentioned, he made annual reports issued from Al-
bany during the years he held office.

In i860 he married Miss Marion Rose of Stephentown, by
whom he has had eight children, six of whom still survive.
His oldest son, a bright and promising young man of twenty-
four, died in January, 1886, deeply lamented.

He is much attached to the city of his adoption, and by
Albanians is greatly esteemed and popular with all classes.
He has a handsome residence at No. 13 Ten Broeck street
and intends, we believe, to spend the remainder of his life —
a life already remarkable for its activities and successful ac-
complishments in the line of his chosen profession — in our
midst.

In personal appearance, Mr. Sweet impresses one with the
thought that he is absorbed in his profession and cares but
little for outward display. His manners are courteous and
bland, and he is a good specimen of that simplicity of style
and sincerity of friendship, which are the leading character-
istics of a gentleman and a scientist.

CHARLES F. TABOR.

CHARLES F. Tabor, the present attorney-general of
the state of New York, whose official residence is
now in Albany, was born on the 28th of June, 1841, in the
town of Newstead, Erie county, N. Y. His father, Silas
Tabor, was a lawyer, and also attended to the cultivation of
his farm in that pleasant township, and there, after spending
many years both in mental and manual exercise, he closed
an honorable and useful career in 1863, in the midst of the
stirring and eventful scenes of our great civil war. He was
a man of great probity and many other noble characteristics
and left the legacy of a good name to his children. His
wife, Betsy E. Tabor, was a woman of high character and
amiability of disposition, whose presence enlivened and
cheered the whole household. She died in 1881.

Charles F., the subject of this sketch, worked on his
father’s farm until he was about seventeen years of age, also
attending, when he could, the common school of the neigh-
borhood. After he had obtained a fair education in the
elementary branches he taught a district school in the win-
ters, and prepared himself for college at Lima, Clarence and
Williamsville academies. He was naturally fond of books
and delighted in study, but for want of sufficient pecuniary-
means he was obliged to give up his college ambition. This

400

Noted Living Albanians.

was a hard blow to the young man, who was, in the more
proper sense of the term, to become a self-made man with-
out the aid of the highest institutions of learning, But he
well utilized the knowledge which he had gained in the acad-
emy, and read with eagerness all the books which he could
come across at home, especially those pertaining to the law,
a profession for which he was fully determined to qualify him-
self and which he loved from his youth up. In the spring
of 1 86 1, inspired with the pleasing thought of being one day
enrolled as a member of so noble a profession, he began the
study of the law in the office of Humphrey & Parsons, of
Buffalo, N. Y., and so carefully had, he improved his oppor-
tunities— notwithstanding the fact that he found it neces-
sary to teach school in the winters to defray his current ex-
penses— that he was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1863
by the general term of the supreme court.

In 1865, at the close of the civil war, Mr. Tabor opened a
law office in Buffalo, where he continued to practice with suc-
cess and a constantly increasing reputation until he was
called to assume his duties first as a deputy, and afterward
as the attorney-general of the empire state.

In 1867-9 Mr. Tabor was an excise commissioner of Erie
county, and for two years held the office of supervisor of the
town of Lancaster, Erie county.

For his sincere, whole-souled devotion to the cause of the
democratic party — in which he imitated the example
of his father — the democrats of the fourth district of
Erie county — a republican district — looked upon him
as a strong and most available candidate for member of the
assembly, and accordingly nominated him in 1875. He was
triumphantly elected over Charles A. Clark, many republi-
cans giving him complimentary votes in recognition of his

Charles F. Tabor.

401

sterling qualities and renaembering his early difficulties in
climbing the hill of science. He was re-elected in the au-
tumn of 1876. In the legislature he showed no little tact
and ability as a ready and forcible debater, and always stood
up boldly for the leading measures of his political party.
He was a member of the committees on education and
cities, and on the whole, acquitted himself with credit and
with the approval of his constituents.

After the close of his legislative career, Mr. Tabor carried
on an extensive law practice at Buffalo for about eight
years, when the more public duties of the state claimed his
services. In 1883 democratic candidate for

county judge of Erie county, and was defeated by only
seventy-eight votes, in a county which gave Garfield 3,800
majority. It was indeed a flattering vote for the young and
rising lawyer, and showed the high esteem in which he was
held by many outside his own party. In the summer of
1885 he accepted the appointment of first deputy under
Attorney-General Denis O’Brien, and for two years per-
formed a large part of the onerous duties in that depart-
ment, having had charge of the public interests before the
board of claims, and the conduct of the cases brought
against state officers.”

In the fall of 1887 he was nominated by the democratic
party, in the convention which met at Saratoga, to succeed
Mr. O’Brien. After an earnest and thorough campaign
on both sides, he was elected by a plurality of 14,361,
carrying his native county of Erie by a majority of 300,
while the head of the republican ticket received 2,100
majority in the same county.

With a popularity thus strongly evinced and with perfect
familiarity with the work he was to undertake, he entered

402

Noted Living Albanians.

upon his new office as attorney-general on the ist of Janu-
ary, 1888, and is always endeavoring to serve the best in-
terests of the state as a faithful public servant, with
equal justice to all concerned, without partisan considera-
tions. Mr. Tabor was re-elected for two years in 1889 by
9,711 majority.

Mr. Tabor has long enjoyed the reputation of being a
well-read lawyer, and his legal opinions are formed after
deep research and careful study of the correct principles of
legal science. From his early youth his life has been a
studious one, and by his own efforts and untiring persever-
ance he has gradually risen from a hard-working farmer’s
boy to occupy a high and honorable position, in which he has
already reflected much credit on himself and honor on the
state.

Plain in his manners, easily approachable, modest in his
demeanor, sincere in his friendship, and always diligent in
his business he is one of the many self-made men with whom
our country abounds, and for whose welfare she is always
willing to extend a helping hand.

JOHN BOYD THACHER.

Hon. John Boyd Thacher was born at Ballston Springs,
N. Y., September ii, 1847. He is the eldest son of
the late George H. Thacher, who was for many years mayor
of Albany, and his mother was Ursula J. Boyd, daughter of
David Boyd, Esq., of Schenectady. His first American an-
cestor was B.ev. Thomas Thacher who was the first pq^tor
of the old South church of Boston. His father’s maternal
grandfather, Judge Hornell, was the founder of the import-
ant town of Hornellsville in this state.

To ex-Mayor George H. Thacher it is needless to allude
in this connection, more than to pay, in passing, a tribute
of respect to one who was one of the most prominent business
men of Albany, and who has been referred to as “ that old
war-horse of the democracy, who, in years gone by, so often
led the party to victory.” In nothing the elder Thacher
ever did, did he show sounder common sense than in the
education he gave his son, the subject of this sketch, an
education so practical as to fully inform him upon the little
understood conflicting claims of capital and labor. After
the usual preparatory course, Mr. Thacher entered Williams
college, from which institution he graduated with honor in
1869. Far too many college graduates and far too many
fathers of college graduates imagine that with a diploma

404

Noted Living Albanians.

and a degree the work of education comes to a full stop.
The Thachers, father and son, made no such mistake.
Throwing off the broadcloth and fine linen of the student,
the son entered his father’s car wheel works where he was
taught the trade of a molder. He learned iron as he had
previously learned books and became as industrious a work-
ingman as he had been a diligent student. His evenings
were passed in taking a thorough course of book-keeping
and accounts at Folsom’s Business college. Having mas-
tered his father’s business in all its details he became a
member of his father’s firm. The business is now conducted
by Mr. Thacher and his brother George H. Thacher. It is
their proud boast that in all the years of its existence there
has never been a word of dispute between their house and
their employees, and to-day, twenty-five years after the war,
they are paying their skilled molders the same rate of wages
which prevailed during that period of inflation.

Mr. Thacher’s first active connection with public affairs
was as a member of the board of health of Albany. In that
capacity he compiled the rules and regulations under which
that board is still working.

In 1883 Mr. Thacher was elected to the state senate from
this district. Here it became his duty to look after the nec-
essary appropriations to carry on the good work of building
the capitol. Each year he secured large sums and hun-
dreds of stone-cutters and laborers found constant employ-
ment. Since that time it has been the policy of the legisla-
ture to withhold appropriations, and as a consequence the
magnificent capitol, magnificent even in its imperfect state,
remains unfinished and incomplete. Mr. Thacher was active
in having contract work in the prisons abolished, and he
made some strong arguments in behalf of the labor interests

John B. Thacher.

405

which were imperiled by that objectionable system. While
serving on the senate cities committee, charged with investi-
gating the government of the city of New York, Mr.
Thacher became interested in the subject of tenement-house
reform and introduced a bill appointing a commission, which
was afterward organized with the late Joseph W. Drexel as
chairman, and from whose good labors has resulted much
valuable remedial legislation. Mr. Thacher led the fight in
the legislature of 1885 in behalf of the constitutional require-
ment for an enumeration of the inhabitants. The majority
in the legislature favored an elaborate and expensive census
similar to that taken five years before by the general govern-
ment. Mr. Thacher’s argument vjdiS, first, that the enumera-
tion of the inhabitants as required by the constitution was
for the specific purpose of reapportioning the various sena-
torial and assembly districts, that each should have as nearly
as possible an equal number of inhabitants ; 2iX\d, second, that
since the last state census of 1875, the state has established
bureaus and departments which annually gathered all that
minute and statistical information sought by an elaborate
census.

While General Grant lay ill and slowly dying in the late
winter of 1885, the congress of the United States was with
much feeling and bitterness discussing the propriety of plac-
ing him again upon the retired list of generals of the army
and affording him a proper pension. The party to which
Mr. Thacher belonged was then in power in the house of
representatives and the indications were not favorable to
the reinstatement of the General. Mr. Thacher saw very
plainly that should death come to General Grant before the
act of justice and propriety was accorded him, everlasting
disgrace would attach to the democratic party, and on the

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Noted Living Albanians.

evening of February ii, 1885, against the advice of three of
the most prominent democrats Jn the nation, he introduced
into the senate and had placed a concurrent resolution call-
ing upon the New York representatives in congress to im-
mediately act in favor of pensioning the illustrious soldier.
He made on that occasion a short but notable speech, and
upon the sending of the resolutions to the members of con-
gress, he himself went on to Washington and successfully
labored with his party friends in favor of that righteous
measure. In less than six months the nation’s warrior died,
and in the universal respect and honor paid his memory
was manifested the wisdom of that congressional action. It
is said that Mr. Thacher is prouder of his part in these pro-
ceedings than in any other act of his legislative career.

In the spring of 1886 Mr. Thacher was elected mayor of
Albany. It was the bi-centennial of that ancient city, and
the ceremonies incident to a proper recognition of the oc-
casion laid severe strains upon the young municipal officer.
It is unnecessary to speak of the success attending that
celebration, a goodly share of which may fairly be attributed
to the zeal and enthusiasm of the mayor. During the four
days of the celebration Mayor Thacher made nearly a dozen
addresses on as many different subjects, and each attracted
the attention of the people of the state, particularly those
addressed to the Indians and to the representatives from
Holland and which were prepared on a few hours’ notice
and in the confusion of the moment.

Mayor Thacher’s two years of administration were marked
with the lowest tax rate since the first year of the war when
his honored father was mayor. For two hundred years the
citizens of Albany had maintained a free market site on
State street, the broad thoroughfare leading to the capitol.

John B. Thacher.

407

The manifest impropriety of using so grand a street for such
purposes led the mayor to recommend the removal of the
market and the purchase by the city of an adequate site
elsewhere. While this step met with much opposition it
was carried to a successful issue and now the farmers who
bring to the new market their produce and the people who
purchase it are all delighted with the change.

In the winter of 1887 public notice was given that Judge
A. J. Parker, who as trustee of the Harmanus Bleecker fund,
had nearly a year before offered it to the Young Men’s As-
sociation contingent upon their raising $50,000, would give
only to the ist day of January, 1888, for the accomplish-
ment of the task. But a little over two weeks of that pro-
bationary period remained, and a meeting was called on De-
cember 14, 1887, at which Mayor Thacher presided, and at
which it was determined to make a last expiring effort to raise
the money and secure the Bleecker fund. Committees were
organized throughout the city, representing every walk and
condition in life and daily meetings were held. By the
evening of December 31, 1887, there had been subscribed
the magnificent sum of $56,518, and thus the Bleecker fund
amounting to above $130,000 was secured for an excellent in-
stitution and the erection of a large public hall assured.
Considering-the time given and the amount required the
task seemed superhuman.

In the month of February, 1888, Mayor Thacher organized
and successfully inaugurated a winter carnival, the first of its
kind ever held south of Montreal. It lasted three days, and
so perfect was the weather and so smoothly ran all the pro-
ceedings that the people attributed it all to “ Thacher’s luck.”

Following the expiration of his mayoralty term came the
presidential contest of 1888 and, having been chosen presi-

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Noted Living Albanians.

dent of the state league of democratic clubs, Mr. Thacher
conceived the original idea of making a canal-boat canvass
from one end of the state to the other. The canal boat
Thomas Jefferson was fitted up and speakers of national
renown accompanied the boat from Buffalo to Albany. The
enthusiasm aroused by this unusual means of campaigning was
very great, but the candidates of the party for national elec-
tion were defeated. Had there remained two weeks more
of the campaign it is believed the result would have been
different. Immediately after the election, in accordance
with a long-cherished plan and to afford a needed rest, Mr.
Thacher and his wife went to the far east and spent the
Avinter in Turkey and Egypt.

Mr. Thacher has been called a man of hobbies. He de-
votes most of his spare time to the collection of fifteenth
century printed books and the gathering of autographs.
This last is not to be confounded with the ordinary collect-
ing of persons’ signatures in albums. Mr. Thacher’s col-
lection covers the principal personages of the world for the
last four hundred years, and is probably the most important
in America. He has the largest known collection of fif-
teenth century printing, illustrating the different presses.
To collect these as a pastime and to his manufacturing in-
terests as a business, Mr. Thacher gives all his time. He
married in 1872 Miss Emma Treadwell, and the charms and
comforts of his home are recognized by all its visitors.

■ 'i

FREDERICK TOWNSEND.

Among those who have taken a prominent part in the
development of the military affairs of our state, and
have also been conspicuous for gallantry in the war for the
Union, is General Frederick Townsend, of Albany, where
he was born on the 2ist of September, 1825.

H e comes from a line of ancestors noted for their inde-
pendence of character, high moral principles and true de-
votion to the cause of liberty. He is a son of Isaiah Town-
send, a prominent and wealthy merchant of this city, who
married his cousin, Hannah Townsend, of New York, and
died at bis residence in Albany in 1838, at the age of sixty-
one. The general’s grandfather, on his father’s side, was
Henry Townsend, of Cornwall, N. Y. , who married Mary
Bennet and died in 1815. The original ancestor of this
branch of the Townsend family in America was old Henry
Townsend, who was married to Annie Coles, and with his
two brothers, John and Richard, came from Norfolk, Eng.,
to Massachusetts about the year 1640. They did not re-
main long in the old bay state, but set out through the pri-
meval forests for the shores of Long Island, where they first
located at Flushing, of which place they were among the
original settlers. The patent was granted to John Town-
send, and others by Gov. Kieft, in 1645.

410

Noted Living Albanians.

On account of political and religious difficulties with the
old Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, the pioneer Town-
sends did not find it altogether pleasant living at Flushing.
In consequence of the invasion of their rights in matters of
a political and ecclesiastical nature they removed to Warwick,
R. L, where they all became members of the provincial as-
sembly and held, besides, municipal office. In 1656 they
once more attempted to settle on Long Island, and during
that year obtained, with others, the patent of Rustdorp, now
Jamaica. But their liberty of conscience was not long to
remain undisturbed. In the following year Henry, who
seemed to have been the leading spirit among his brothers,
was arrested, imprisoned and fined “ one hundred pounds
Flanders ” for harboring Quakers in his house — so high did
the spirit of persecution rage in those days against the de-
nomination of Friends. This unjust treatment was too
much for the resolute old Henry Townsend and his brothers
to bear patiently, and the very next year we find them re-
moving to Oyster Bay, L. L, which was then out of the jur-
isdiction of the Dutch hierarchy at New Amsterdam. Here
Henry passed the remainder of his days, dying in 1695.
The brothers Townsend were possessed of many sterling and
heroic qualities, and were not afraid to do or to attempt to
do what they deemed to be right. They manifested strong
affection for each other, always clinging together amidst the
storms and sunshine of their lives “ like a three fold cord,”
which is not easily broken. The descendants of these
brothers were notable men, many of them elected repeatedly
to offices of high trust and responsibility. The General’s
great-great-great grandfather on his mother’s side, James
Townsend, was deputy surveyor-general of the province. His
great-grandfather, Samuel Townsend, “ was actively engaged

Frederick Townsend.

411

in the English and West India trade, which he successfully
prosecuted until the revolution, when, besides the unavoid-
able obstructions to business occasioned by the war, he, be-
ing a whig, was subjected to many annoyances and interrup-
tions from the British after they obtained possession of
Oyster Bay. Before that time he was a member of the pro-
vincial congress, and at the close of the war resumed his seat
and continued in public life until his death — 1790. He was
also a state senator and a member of the first council of ap-
pointment under the constitution in 1789. While a mem-
ber of the Fourth provincial congress (1776) he and thirteen
others were appointed a committee to prepare a form of
government for the state.” The committee reported March
12, 1777, which report was discussed until April 20th follow-
ing, when the first constitution of the state of New York
was adopted. The general’s grandfather, Solomon Town-
send of New York, conducted a large iron business in that
city, having extensive iron works at Chester, Orange county,
and at Peconic river, Suffolk county. He frequently repre-
sented New York in the state legislature, and was a member
thereof at the time of his death in 1811.

As soon as he was old enough Frederick Townsend, the
subject of this sketch, was sent to a private infant school in
this city, and afterward he attended the Boys’ academy
here. His sprightly air, active temperament, and social dis-
position, made him popular among the young students, and
the several terms of his academical life, excepting the two
years he was at Bartlett’s Collegiate school, Poughkeepsie,
were both pleasantly and profitably spent in his native city.
All this time he was rapidly preparing himself for a collegi-
ate course, and at the early age of fifteen he entered Union
college, at Schenectady, where, during four years he carried

412

Noted Living Albanians.

on his regular studies, standing well in his classes, and earn-
ing moreover the reputation of being a first-class, genial
companion, among the college students. Graduating from
old Union in 1844, at the age of nineteen, he soon after-
ward turned his attention to the study of the law. He be-
came a student in the law office of Messrs. John V. L.
Pruyn (subsequently chancellor of the university of the state)
and the late Henry H. Martin (at the time of whose death
president of the Albany Savings bank). He was admitted
to the bar in 1849, general term of the supreme

court in Albany.

With a view to enlarging his knowledge of the world and
human nature, by study and observation. General Town-
send, about this time, set out on quite an extensive line of
travel, going to California when the gold fever there was
just beginning to rage, and thence subsequently crossing the
Atlantic and visiting the principal places of interest in litera-
ture, history and art. His keen perception and high appre-
ciation of the beauties of nature and art, and his careful
study of society in its various phases rendered his visits
both home and foreign most interesting and profitable. Re-
turning home with his tastes cultivated and his manners
polished he settled down in 1856 in the practice of the law
in Albany, the firm being Townsend, Jackson & Strong, in
which he continued actively for only a year.

While interested in the general principles and literature
of legal science, there was another subject for which he
showed a stronger attachment, and that was military science.
For this he always had a natural taste, and consequently,
was not long in mastering the general details of military
tactics. The more he studied this science the better he
liked it ; and he soon became an excellent authority on

Frederick Townsend.

413

matters connected wit it. It just suited his young, ardent
imagination, and filled his mind with pleasing thoughts of
future usefulness and activity in the service of his country.
Soon after his return from Europe he was made captain of
Company B, Washington Continentals, of Albany. He also
organized the Seventy-sixth regiment of militia, of which he
was colonel, and later on, the Albany Zouave Cadets (Com-
pany A, Tenth battalion. National Guard). His admirable
fitness to occupy some higher position in the military ranks
becoming more widely known and more fully appreciated,
he was appointed by Governor John A. King, in 1857, adju-
tant-general of the state of New York. This appointment
was a most fortunate one, and one of its fruits was the far
greater efficiency of the state troops for the coming storm
of civil war. General Townsend found the New York state
military as a whole in a very disordered and undeveloped
condition, utterly unworthy of the power and renown of the
empire state. He saw at once the many defects in our
military system, and with strong hands, a brave heart, and
settled purpose, he went to work to make it what it ought
to be. He left the practice of the law and devoted his
time as adjutant-general to making great reforms, infusing
new life and vigor into our military organization, bringing
order out of confusion and light out of chaos. He prepared
an annual report to the commander-in-chief, the first issued
in many years from his department, in which he clearly set
forth his ideas, with various strong recommendations for
a better military system, which he speedily put in practice.

In 1859 reappointed adjutant-general by Gov. Ed-

win D. Morgan, and gave his undivided attention still in the
same direction. And it may be truly asserted that it was
principally owing to the efficiency of Gen. Townsend that

Noted Living Albanians.

so many New York troops were ready to take the field when
the thunders of Fort Sumter's guns first aroused the loyal
men of the North to action and called them to arms.

In i86i inspired with the patriotic fervor which then
stirred all hearts, Gen. Townsend promptly tendered his
services to his country at the beginning of the civil war ; and
organized the Third regiment of New York state volunteers,
of which he was commissioned colonel in May and which he
commanded at the battle of Big Bethel, June lo, i86i, on
which field he was conspicuous for many acts of gallantry.
He was appointed by President Lincoln a major of the Eigh-
teenth infantry, one of the new three battalion regiments of
the regular army, August 19, 1861, and was assigned to duty
in the west. His command first joined the army of Gen.
Buell and than that of Gen. Rosecrans. He commanded his
battalion in the reconnoissance to Lick Creek, Miss.,
(sometimes called Pea Ridge), April 26, 1862 ; also in the
siege of Corinth, April 30th, and in the occupation thereof
May 30th after its evacuation by the enemy. On the 6th
of October he was in the advance of the Third corps, army
of the Ohio, with his battalion, driving the rear guard of the
enemy from Springfield to near Texas, Ky.; and, also, with
his battalion took part in the battle of Perryville or Chaplin
Hill, Ky., on the 8th of that month. After the first day of
the battle at Stone river, Tenn., December 31, 1862, to
January^ 2, 1863, all his senior officers of the regular brigade
having been shot except the brigade commander, he was
placed by the latter in command of the left wing of the
brigade. He was also in the affair of Eagleville, Tenn.,
March 2, 1863, with a large force supporting a foraging
party. In all these various battles, engagements and affairs.
Major Townsend proved himself to be a true and brave sol-

Frederick Townsend.

415

dier, and on several occasions displayed great courage on
these fields of carnage. He received, successively, the bre-
vet of lieutenant-colonel, that of colonel, and that of briga-
dier-general, all in the regular army. In May, 1863, Gen.
Townsend was detailed for duty at Albany, as acting as-
sistant provost-marshal-general.

In 1867, on his return from Europe after a leave of ab-
sence, he was ordered to California (having been promoted
in 1864, to be lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth United States
Infantry), and placed by Gen. McDowell on his staff as act-
ing assistant inspector-general of the department, in which
capacity he made an inspection of all the government posts
in Arizona. He resigned his commission in 1868. ’ He is a
member of the society of the Army of the Cumberland, of
the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the military order
of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

Gen. Townsend has been a director of the New York
State National bank and trustee of the Albany and Bethle-
hem Turnpike company since 1864; a trustee of Vassar college
since June 27, 1876; a trustee of the Albany Orphan Asy-
lum since 1879; ^ trustee of the Dudley observatory since
April 22, 1880, and a trustee of the Albany academy since

’t

May II, 1886. He was elected brigadier-general of the
Ninth brigade. National Guard, state of New York, in 1878,
and resigned that position on the ist of January, 1880, to
accept the appointment of adjutant-general of the state of
New York, tendered by Governor Cornell. In this post
he again turned his attention to a long cherished idea of
further developing the state troops, which, among other pro-
gressive measures, culminated in his establishing the “ camp
of instruction ” near Peekskill, and providing the service
dress uniform for all the troops of the state.

4i6

Noted Living Albanians.

He was nominated by the republican state convention in
1880 for the office of elector of the president and vice-presi-
dent, was elected, and cast his vote for James A. Garfield
and Chester A. Arthur for those offices, respectively.

In the quietude of his handsome mansion on Elk street
Gen. Townsend is now enjoying the fruits of his well-earned
military laurels, the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens,
and surrounded by all that makes domestic life pleasing
and attractive.

On November 19, 1863, he married Miss Sarah Rathbone,
a lady of much culture of mind and gracefulness of manners,
only daughter of the late Joel Rathbone, a prominent mer-
chant and banker of Albany.

They have two children — a daughter. Miss Sarah Rath-
bone Townsend, and a son, Frederick Townsend, Jr., a
graduate of the Albany academy, who in 1889 entered Har-
vard college with honors.

Gen. Townsend is tall, well-proportioned, of stately, sol-
dierly bearing, active in his movements, gentlemanly in his
manners, and endowed with a high order of conversational
powers.

CHARLES TRACEY.

REPRESENTATIVE Albanian whose sterling quali-
^ ^ ties of the head and heart have brought him into
popular favor, and who has already been honored by the
bestowal of responsible political positions, is the Hon.
Charles Tracey, our present congressman from this district.
He is descended from a long and influential line of Irish
ancestry. Born at No. 757 Broadway, Albany, on the 27th
of May, 1847, he has thus passed his forty-third year, and is
in the vigor of manhood, possessing the capabilities of per-
forming efficiently the active and onerous duties of life. In
1838 his father, John Tracey, removed to this country from
Canada, in consequence of the native rebellion then exist-
ing in that country. He lived in Albany till his death on
the 1 2th of July, 1875. He was a man of high character,
having served as a trustee in many local organizations, both
financial and charitable ; was once a candidate for state
senator ; was a most respected and excellent citizen, and his
departure was deeply and widely regretted by his fellow-
citizens. His wife, Maria Tracey, survived him five years,
dying in 1880. The benevolent and charitable disposition
of Mr. and Mrs. John Tracey will long be remembered by
the citizens of Albany.

Charles Tracey, the subject of our present sketch, was

4i8 Noted Living Albanians.

sent to school very early in life, and became an apt and dili-
gent pupil. He was educated principally at the Albany
Boys’ academy, from which he graduated in 1866. While a
student there he became greatly interested in elementary
military tactics, and was elected major of the battalion of
cadets. And it may here be said that his taste and love for
military science have never left him. On leaving the Al-
bany academy in 1866, he went abroad, on an extensive
tour through the Holy land, Egypt, and various parts of
Europe, visiting many places celebrated in civil and military
history, and looking upon the treasures of art abounding in
The old world. While in Europe at that time, young Tracey
entered the Pontifical Zouaves, and served two years in that
organization, returning home in 1869. The next year he
crossed the Atlantic, went to Rome, and fought there during
the siege of the city. He was captured and retained as a
prisoner for some time. On his release he returned to the
United States, and for some time took up a business resi-
dence in the city of New York, where he organized the
Catholic Union, which in a short time had a membership of
over one hundred thousand, and became its first secretary.
He next returned to Albany, where he has ever since resided.
After his return from Europe, Pope Pius the Ninth conferred
upon him, in recognition of his military services, the order
of St. Gregory the Great, with the rank and title of chevalier.

At length General Tracey was urged by many of his per-
sonal and political friends to enter the field of politics. He
was always a democrat of unwavering principles, and at first
held several entirely honorary offices in his chosen party.
He served as aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel on the
staff of Governor Tilden, and as a commissary-general of
subsistence under Governor Robinson. His high personal

Charles Tracey.

419

qualities, his eminent fitness for filling responsible positions,
his welhknown executive abilities, and his ardent devotion
to the democratic party through all its vicissitudes made
him a most available candidate for office. And at the
democratic congressional convention in the fall of 1887, he
was nominated for representative in congress from this dis-
trict to" fill the vacancy caused by the death of Congressman
Kane. He was elected by the large majority of 1,659 over
Hon. John M. Bailey, the popular republican candidate.
There was also a labor candidate in the field.

Gen. Tracey entered upon his congressional work with
clean hands and a heart willing to labor for the best inter-
ests of his constituents. While he served on various com-
mittees and was active in pushing forward different measures
in congress, his greatest effort there, and one that will al-
ways be remembered with gratitude by many of the citizens
of Albany county, was the part which he took in the estab-
lishment of the Watervliet arsenal. He took up the work
which had been laid out for Mr. Kane, and with a little as-
sistance from others carried it on with a brave, courageous
spirit amidst the storm and sunshine which alternately came
over the project until its complete realization. In June,
1888, he made a speech in congress in support of a liberal ap-
propriation for ‘‘ the continuance of the manufacture of large
cannon at Watervliet.” It was an earnest and strong effort
and increased his reputation as a graceful and skillful debater.

Early in September of the same year the appropriation
for the Watervliet gun factory passed the senate and the
house "of representatives and was soon after approved by
President Cleveland. This grand result for Albany county
was mainly due to the perseverance, industry and influence
of Gen. Tracey, who has thus been enabled to secure a great

420

Noted Living Albanians.

industrial interest for the county, besides having made many
friends for himself, especially in Watervliet and its vicinity.

On the 22d of September, i88S, Gen. Tracey was renomi-
nated for representative in congress by the democratic con-
vention which met at the city hall. On the occasion of his
renomination the Albany Morning Express (rep.) very gen-
erously remarked : “ Gen. Tracey is young, energetic, intel-
ligent, with plenty of leisure for his public duties, and the
tastes which lead him to enjoy their punctilious discharge.”

Gen. Tracey was elected over his political opponent,
Moses V. Dodge of this city, by a majority of 2,306.

On entering upon the duties of his last congressional term
Gen. Tracey renewed with vigor his faithful efforts for
still more” generous provisions for the Watervliet arsenal,
and in the advocacy of other measures of great benefit to
the public. He was the originator of the project to deepen
the channel of the Hudson river so as to permit the passage
of sea-going vessels as far as to the cities of Albany and
Troy — a project which, if carried out, will be of incalculable
benefit to those cities and the neighboring country.. Among
the numerous public bills introduced by him, which have
since become laws, are these : To change the designs on United
States coins ; To make Albany, N. Y., a port of immediate
transportation ; For relief of the state of New York, to refund
$42,000 duties paid on arms in 1863 ; For relief of enlisted
men in ordnance corps, allowing them to collect bounties;
To enforce the eight-hour law on government premises, etc.

Gen. Tracey’s congressional work was so highly applauded
by his constituents that in the fall of 1890 he was unani-
mously renominated for congress, and elected over Mr.
A. McD. Shoemaker, the republican nominee, by the mag-
nificent majority of 5,078.

Charles Tracey.

421

Among other honorable positions which Gen. Tracey has
held are those of trustee of the house of refuge at Hudson,
to which he was appointed by Gov. Cleveland and reappoin-
ted by Gov. Hill ; principal manager of St. Peter’s hospital
since 1882; trustee of St. Agnes’ cemetery and of the Albany
Savings bank, and director of the National Commercial bank
of Albany.

Among young men, especially, Gen. Tracey is deservedly
popular, for he has always been their trusted friend and kind
adviser, giving needed assistance and encouragement to
many of such as were struggling to get along well in the
world and succeed in some worthy calling.

As a speaker he is earnest in style and forcible in delivery.
He has the happy faculty of expressing his views in clear,
concise and direct language, without the waste of words.
He is a great organizer of measures and strong in pressing
them forward to a successful issue. He has made speeches
in congress on the tariff and labor questions, and as a
thorough business man himself, believes in the prosperity
and success of all business and laboring men.

In 1883, General Tracey married Hermine Duchesney, an
accomplished and highly educated young lady, daughter of
Colonel Duchesney, of Montreal. They have a family of
three children, whose young voices enliven and cheer many
a passing hour.

Gen. Tracey is quiet and unassuming in his manners,
sunny in his disposition, firm in his opinion of what he be-
lieves to be right, and honorable in his discharge of public
and private duties. He is therefore well qualified to be .t
leader and adviser among men having charge of political
affairs. And among the democrats of Albany county he is
now regarded as their true and courageous standard bearer.

THOMAS MARKLEY TREGO.

The medical annals of Albany contain the names of
not a few physicians who are well skilled in the pro-
fession, especially in some of its specialties. And among
those who deserve to be included in this list of accomplished
men is Dr. Thomas M. Trego, of No. 5 Ten Broeck street.
On the 31st of August, 1847, ^^st saw the light of day in
the city of New York, He is the only surviving son of
James and Maria Trego. His ancestry can be traced back
for more than two hundred years. His father, who was born
in Pennsylvania on the ist of January, 1815, is of the
eighth generation and descends in a direct line .from his an-
cestor, James Trego, who was one of the oldest of three
brothers and sons of Peter and Judith Trego, who were born
in France about the years 1650-5. Being Huguenots and
of French extraction, they escaped to England in 1685 dur-
ing the persecution, and there formed part of the noble
colony of William Penn, emigrating with him to this coun-
try, and finally settled in Chester county, Penn. Dr. Trego’s
parents are still living at New Baltimore, N. Y. The maiden
name of the doctor’s mother was Maria Houghtaling, who
was born in Greene county, N. Y., on the 29th of December,
1814, and who is the oldest daughter of the late Thomas C.
Houghtaling, Esq., of Albany county, N. Y. This gentle-

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Thomas M. Trego.

423

man was born in Greene county, N. Y., on the 24th of Sep-
tember, 1791, and was a descendant from a genuine Holland
Dutch family. His mother, Kathrine Van Bergen, was a
descendant of Gen. Salisbury, of Catskill, and was born in
Greene county, N. Y., in the year 1760. Mr. Houghtaling’s
ancestors were amongst the earliest settlers of that county.
They were all tillers of the soil, and like most of their na-
tionality were firm and unyielding adherents to the tradition
of their forefathers. The same may be said of the ancestry*
on Mr. Houghtaling’s mother’s side, who were of the Van
Derzees. The earliest ancestor of this name occurs as
grantee in a conveyance, now lying before us, and bearing
date April 23, 1652, by “ Richard Nicolls, governo and gen-
erall und his Royal Highness James Duke of York, and
Albany, etc., of all the territoryes in America.” This curious
old document, beautifully written in the old style of orthog-
raphy, grants to “ one Storm Albertsen. of Beverwick (now
Albany), a piece of land situate in Beverwick,” etc. This
deed or conveyance has been for many years in the posses-
sion of Mrs. Trego, the doctor’s mother. Storm Albertsen,
mentioned above, was an ancestor of Storm Van Derzee, the
grandfather of Albertsen, or Albert Van Derzee, whose only
daughter, Elizabeth, was the wife of Thomas C. Houghtaling,
and the mother of Mrs. Trego. She was born in Greene
county, N. Y., May 10, 1783. They were also amongst the
first who settled in that county. They were mostly farmers
and owners of large tracts of land, especially in the northern
portion of the county. The derivation of the name Storm ”
is worthy of notice here. Tradition tells us that the firs*
Christian name Storm was given to a child born of Van Der-
zee’s parents on board a ship during a terrible storm ”
while on her voyage from Holland to this country.

424

Noted Living Albanians.

In the spring of 1852 the parents of Dr. Trego removed
from the metropolis to the little village of New Baltimore
on the west bank of the Hudson, where his boyhood was
spent in attending the common school of the place, and
amidst rural, healthful scenes. Though taking considerable
interest in the sports and pastimes of other boys of his age
he did not neglect his school books, in which he found still
greater pleasure than in manual exercise. He was always
of a studious habit, and his progress in the pathway of learn-
ing was consequently more rapid than the majority of boys.
When he was nearly fifteen years of age his parents sent
him to the Brooklyn Boys’ academy, an excellent institution
for the more thorough mental training and discipline of
youth. After remaining there a year he was prepared to
take a step higher in the course of study, and in the fall of
1865 was placed in the grammer school connected with
Rutgers college, New Brunswick, N. J. Carefully improv-
ing the intellectual opportunities there offered he was, after
a year’s study, thoroughly fitted to enter the freshman class
of the college. He was now in an old and honored institu-
tion where sound learning and a high order of scholarship
were brought within the reach of the true, aspiring student.
And after diligently pursuing his studies during the full
course of four years he graduated with honor in 1870 in the
class which celebrated the college centennial.

Naturally inclined to the study of medicine from boyhood,
he found no difficulty on graduation from college in gratify-
ing his early tastes. His whole mind was in fact wrapped up in
this science, and it was with feelings of entire satisfaction that
in the autumn of 1870 he commenced the study of medicine
in the office of the late distinguished Dr. S. O. Vanderpool
of Albany. It is hardly necessary to say that his studies

Thomas M. Trego. 425

were here directed by a master mind in the medical profes-
sion. Young Trego understood this, and for eighteen
months he improved the rare opportunity thus offered by
laying the foundation of a substantial superstructure of
medical knowledge. On the appointment of Dr. Vander-
pool as health officer at quarantine, New York, about this
time, he continued his studies in the office of the now vener-
able and renowned Dr. Thomas Hun, and his son, the late
Dr. Edward R. Hun, of Albany. And here for nearly a
year and a half he was steadily increasing the stock of his
medical acquisitions. Dr. Trego may be said to have been
highly favored during his student life by having enjoyed the
instructions of learned and eminent teachers. On leaving
the office of the Drs. Hun in Albany he entered that of Dr.
Thomas M. Markoe, of New York, and while there he at-
tended lectures in the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
graduating from that celebrated institution in 1874. About
a year before he received his medical diploma he was ap-
pointed resident physician in St. Peter’s hospital, Albany,
and after finishing his studies in New York he returned to
Albany and resumed his work in the hospital. Faithfully
and skillfully discharging the duties of this responsible trust
with honor and credit to himself and to the entire satisfac-
tion of Madam Paula, the lady superior, and the medical
staff, he resigned the position in the fall of 1875, and opened
an office for the general practice of medicine on Second
street in this city. Thus fully prepared by a long course of
study, investigation, experience and observation, and by a
natural adaptation to his chosen field of labor, he started off
with comparative ease on a road toward popularity and suc-
cess. He was intimately acquainted with the science of
medicine in all its branches, especially in its latest researches
54

426

Noted Living Albanians.

and advancements and the best modes of treatment as adop-
ted in the Allopathic school. From the first his practice
steadily increased until he became one of the leading and
favorite physicians in the city.

There is one specialty in which Dr. Trego has greatly ex-
celled, and that is the diseases of children, hundreds of whom
he has treated with remarkable success. Flis skill in this
particular branch was so marked, that at'the suggestion and
recommendation of Dr. Edward R. Hun he was appointed
his successor as attending physician at the Child’s hospital,
founded by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Doane of Albany. About
the same time he became one of the attending physicians of
the Albany Orphan society, and of the Babies nursery, now
established on Washington avenue in the new building which
is the gift of Mrs. Stanford, the wife of ex-Gov., and now U,
S. Senator, Leland Stanford, of California, whose early home
had been in Albany. Dr. Trego is also one of the attending
physicians of the St. Margaret’s home for infants, where
babies under one year old are cared for. Besides this, he is
one of the attending physicians of the Home for Aged Men,
on the Troy road — an institution which owes its existence
and continued prosperity to the wakeful benevolence of Mr.
James B. Jermain of this city, who has contributed over
$40,000 to it, and of which he is now the honorary president.
In 1881 Dr. Trego was appointed physician to St. Agnes’
school for young ladies. He is also connected with the dis-
pensary of the Albany City hospital.

In the summer of 1878 Dr. Trego, accompanied by his
father, crossed the Atlantic for the double purpose of recrea-
tion and pleasure. He visited London, Edinburg, ‘'Paris, r
Antwerp, Belgium and numerous other famous places. He
was particularly interested in visiting the various noted hos-

Thomas M. Trego.

427

pitals abroad, as well as in looking upon the noble
works of the great masters in sculpture and painting, which
adorn the galleries of the old world. Possessing a cultivated
taste for the fine arts he there found many things to please
his eye and call forth his admiration. Returning home
after an absence of several months, he immediately set
about attending to the daily calls of his patients.

Politics do not usually enter largely into the life of the
physician, and while Dr. Trego is not an active warrior in
this field, yet it must be said, that like his father, he has
always been a pronounced democrat. In 1878 he Avas ap-
pointed by Mayor Banks one of the district physicians,
while in 1887 he received the appointment from the board
of supervisors as coroner’s physician for the city and county
of Albany. He is also a member of the Albany County
Medical society.

In 1881 Dr. Trego married Jessie, the youngest daughter
of George W. Carpenter, Esq., superintendent of the Albany
Water Avorks. But after a married life of about fourteen
months, this happy union was sadly terminated by the sud-
den demise of Mrs. Trego, the circumstances of whichsi are
still fresh in the memory of many of our citizens.

Seeking to promote the physical welfare of the public in
the exercise of his best skill in the relief of pain and suffer-
ing among both young and old, and in also advocating
whatever tends to advance the moral and social condition
of the people. Dr. Trego, now in the prime of life and in the
midst of an active professional career, has already gained no
little distinction among those great and brilliant names
which shine as stars in the firmament of the medical world.

GILBERT MILLIGAN TUCKER.

ONE of the most earnest, active and successful journal-
istic workers in Albany is Gilbert M. Tucker, one of
the editors and proprietors of the Cultivator and Country
Gentleman, He was born in Albany on the 26th of
August, 1847, is a son of the late Luther Tucker, who,
in the year 1831, established the old Genesee Farmer,
now consolidated with the Cultivator and Country Gentle-
man. The elder Mr. Tucker, dying in 1873, left the manage-
ment of the paper to his two sons, Luther H. and Gilbert M.
The eldest son, Luther, is still at the head of the firm, while,
during recent years, Gilbert has been the principal active
member most of the time. The other son in this gifted
family is Willis G. Tucker, the well-known physician and
scientist of this city, a biographical sketch of whom is in-
cluded in the present series.

Gilbert M. Tucker, the subject of this sketch, inheriting
the high literary abilities of his father, early evinced a great
desire to lay out for himself a purely literary career. When
about ten years of age he was sent to the Albany Boys’ acad-
emy, where he spent several years, and in 1865, at the age
of eighteen, he had the satisfaction of entering the junior
class of Williams college, Massachusetts. Applying him-
self with renewed ardor to his books, he was graduated in

Gilbert M. Tucker.

429

1867, with honor, standing second in his class. During his
college life Mr. Tucker paid special attention to English
composition, and thus early laid the foundation of his terse,
vigorous style; and after graduation it was with compara-
tive ease that he took up his pen in an editorial capacity.
In 1867 he was taken into the editorial staff of the Country
Gentleman, on which he has continued ever since to enrich
its columns and advance its popularity, until to-day it is the
most widely-circulated publication of the kind in the
country. In thousands of the homes of farmers through our
land no secular periodical is a more welcome weekly visitor
at the fireside than this popular journal. And it may truly
be said that there is not a subject of any interest or import-
ance to the agriculturist but is ably and thoroughly treated
in the light of modern discoveries and improvements, in its
interesting and attractive columns. Mr. Tucker’s editorial
duties are onerous and his literary exertions unremitting.
He only allows himself a brief summer vacation. He finds
his chief recreation in the study of language, especially that
of the English, turning to practical account most of his in-
vestigations in this line. While thus employed, year after
year, he has taken particular pains to gather around him
the principal authorities on linguistic lore. And he has
already quite a large private collection of books on philo-
logy, particularly dictionaries, including all modern English
dictionaries of any note, and a number of those of older
date. He has read three able papers on subjects con-
nected with the history and right use of English before the
Albany institute, which have been printed in its trans-
actions. He has also contributed articles on English and
other topics to the North American Review, the New Eng-
lander and the Presbyterian Review.

430

Noted Living Albanians.

Mr. Tucker was the first person to urge the adoption of
a rational system of naming our streets on the numerical
plan. He presented a complete scheme to the Albany in-
stitute in 1883, proposing that the north-and-south streets
be numbered, beginning with Eagle as First, and that the
east-and-west streets be called avenues, beginning with Liv-
ingston avenue as First. North of Livingston Avenue he
would use letters, calling Colonie street Avenue A, and so
on. The first part of this plan, relating to the north and
south streets, has been taken up recently by the committee
of the common council, and there seems to be som.e pros-
pect that it will ultimately be adopted, though still opposed
by many persons.

In 1887 Mr. Tucker erected a handsomie brown stone
front house on State street. No. 304, its interior being
tastefully furnished and its walls adorned with oil paintings
and other artistic works. And here in his library he finds
great pleasure mornings and evenings, in pursuing his .liter-
ary work, away from the more hurried and confining requisi-
tions in the office of the Country Gentleman.

Since 1871 Mr. Tucker has been a member of the Albany
institute. For some years he was chairman of its publish-
ing committee, and is now its treasurer. He is a member
of the American Dialect Society and their Bibliography is
merely a continuation of one prepared by him and published
in the Albany Institute Transactions. He is also a member
of the Fort Orange club, the Press and Ridgefield Athletic
club, and the Young Men’s Christian association; and a life
member of the Young Men’s association and the New York
State Agricultural society,

In his religious views Mr. Tucker is of the Presbyterian
faith, and for several years he has been a member of the

Gilbert M. Tucker.

431

session of the Second Presbyterian church, Albany. In
politics he is a republican.

In 1877 Mr. Tucker married Miss Sara Edwards Miller,
a daughter of the late Rev. Dr. William A. Miller, who is
still affectionately remembered in Albany, for his Christian
works and labors of love in the Dutch Reformed commu-
nion. They have two children, and their home is both
pleasant and cheerful.

Mr. Tucker is of medium height, rather slender in form,
with dark hair and beard ; of a courteous bearing and studi-
ous habits, with a large forehead, indicative of no little
mental force, and a faculty capable of elucidating deep or
obscure subjects in general science and literature.

WILLIS GAYLORD TUCKER.

FORTY-ONE years ago an Albanian, who has already
gained an enviable reputation in the medical, scientific
and educational world, first saw the light of day. Willis G.
Tucker, the subject of this sketch, was born in Albany on
the 31st day of October, 1849. father, the late Luther

Tucker, possessed talents of a high order, and his work as a
writer and publisher, especially in the direction of agricul-
tural science, has long been highly appreciated by the public.
This noble pioneer in periodical literature established in 1826
the Rochester Daily Advertiser, the first daily newspaper
published west of Albany, still continued under the name
of the Rochester Union and Advertiser , a leading and success-
ful journal. Fully impressed with the lack among Ameri-
can farmers of suitable agricultural information, Mr. Tucker
established in the beginning of the year 1831, the Genesee
Farmer, which soon won its way into general recognition by
leading agriculturists throughout the land, and having pur-
chased a farm near Rochester he took especial pride in its
cultivation in connection with the management of his new
publication. Removing to Albany in 1840 he combined the
Cultivator of Albany with his journal, and issued the same
as The Cultivator; a consolidation of Buel's Cultivator and
the Genesee Farmer, In 1853 he established The Cotintry

Willis G. Tucker.

433

Gentleman^ a weekly, with which, in 1866, The Cultivator
was combined, and this popular journal is still published by
two of Mr. Tucker’s sons. Much useful, practical knowl-
edge was disseminated in these agricultural papers, tending
to further the successful cultivation of the soil, to lessen the
labor of the husbandman and aiming to show the means
best adapted for obtaining the most profitable results by the
tillers of the land. It was a labor of love for Mr. Tucker
to write in the interests of husbandry, and the suggestions
which he made and the improvements which he introduced
came to be generally adopted by those for whom he wrote,
and especially by the more intelligent and scientific agricul-
turists.

Well does the writer of this sketch remember with what
avidity the old Genesee Farmer ajid Cultivator was received
and read at the old-time firesides, and how the name of
Luther Tucker came to be a household word in numerous
families, who regarded his paper as almost indispensable in
their households.

From his childhood Willis G. Tucker evinced a fondness
for the natural sciences, and he was early instructed in their
elementary principles, and made many youthful experiments
in this direction. His habit of thought and natural inclina-
tions early indicated that he might eventually devote him-
self to scientific pursuits, and at the Albany academy, where
eight years were spent, he came under the instruction
of teachers whose influence was in every way most benefi-
cial. Under the guidance of the late Dr. Jacob S. Mosher
he devoted himself assiduously to the study of chemistry,
and graduating from the academy in 1866, he became Dr.
Mosher’s assistant in the laboratory of the medical college,
which position he had occupied for some time before leaving

434

Noted Living Albanians.

the academy. A year later he entered the office of the late
Prof. James H. Armsby and began the study of medicine,
but he still continued to devote much of his time to the
study of chemistry and other branches of natural science.
From the medical college he was graduated in 1870, but
never actively engaged in the practice of medicine ; and
during the succeeding year he was appointed assistant pro-
fessor of chemistry in the medical college, and in 1874, lec-
turer on materia medica as well. On the reorganization of
the faculty in 1876 he was made professor of inorganic and
analytical chemistry, and in 1887 the department of toxicol-
ogy was also assigned to him. During these years he has
conducted the laboratory classes in practical chemistry in
connection with the lectures given ; and as a teacher has
been most successful in kindling new ardor and love for
science and the method of scientific inquiry in the pupils
who have come under his instruction.

In this capacity his relations with the college are still
continued with an increasing reputation and a wide-spread
usefulness. But Dr. Tucker’s work as an instructor has not
been confined to the Albany Medical college alone. Since
1874 he has been lecturer on chemistry at St. Agnes’ school,
and at different times he has been professor of chemistry at
the Albany academy, the Albany Female academy, and from
1876 to 1887, at the Albany High school. Largely through
his instrumentality, in 1881, was founded the Albany College
of Pharmacy, created by the board of governors, as a de-
partment of Union university. From the outset he has
been professor of chemistry in this new school, and for sev-
eral years was its secretary and is now the president of its
faculty. From a small beginning he has seen this school
grow into one of the most successful of its kind in the land.

Willis G. Tucker. '

435

The times require and the law demands a greater degree of
scientific knowledge on the part of the pharmacist than was
formerly deemed necessary, and this knowledge it is the aim
of colleges of pharmacy to impart. Though established only
nine years ago, the Albany College of Pharmacy has received
the hearty support of pharmacists throughout the state, and
met with a success greater even than its originators had an-
ticipated.

The state board of health was created in 1880, and the fol-
lowing year Dr. Tucker was appointed one of the public anal-
ysts to the board, a position which he has continued to hold
to the present time. During these years he has investigated
and reported upon many of the public water supplies of the
state, examined hundreds of samples of drugs, and made
special study of matters pertaining to sanitary science, es-
pecially in the direction of food and drug adulteration.
For many years he has given much attention to water anal-
ysis, and from the outset opposed the plan, afterward
adopted, of taking the city supply from the Hudson river.
A few years since he analyzed for the city board of health
the waters of the public wells, and recommended that the
greater part of them be closed. As an expert in medico-
legal cases, his services as a toxicologist have frequently been
rendered in court and in many cases his testimony has been
of much service to the people.

In 1882 Dr. Tucker was chosen registrar of the Albany
Medical college, as the successor of the late Dr. Jacob S.
Mosher, and he was one of the originators of its alumni as-
sociation, and since its organization in 1874, has been its
secretary. He is a member of various scientific societies
throughout the country and is a fellow of the Chemical soc-
iety of London.

436

Noted Living Albanians.

As a writer, Dr. Tucker has been a frequent contributor
to scientific journals, particularly on his favorite chemical
subjects. His style is plain, forcible and concise, and his
statements are founded on the true principles of a demon-
strable science. For several years he was one of the editors
of the Albany Medical A nnals, and contributed to its pages
many an original article of his own.

He is a great lover of books and has collected a large li-
brary in which most of the great masters in literature are
represented, as well as a working library well stocked with
the latest authorities and works of reference in science.

The honorary degree of Ph. G. was conferred on him by
the Albany College of Pharmacy in 1882, and the same year
he received from Union college the degree of Ph. D.

In his personal appearance Dr. Tucker is about the me-
dium heighth, slender in form, with a wiry constitution, and
a strong sympathetic nature. Scarcely yet in the prime of life,
many years of labor are spread out before him — years
which in all probability will crown a successful career in the
cause of medical and sanitary science.

ALBERT VANDER VEER,

“A wise physician, skill’d our wounds to heal,

Is more than armies to the public weal.”

— Pope — The Iliad,

An ALBANIAN who stands at the head of his profes-
sion as a surgeon, and whose fame is extended far
beyond the limits of the city, is Dr. Albert Vander Veer.
Born in the town of Root, Montgomery county, N. Y. ,
on the lOth of July, 1841, his earliest days were quietly
passed amidst pleasing scenes of rural life. He is a son of
Abram H. Vander Veer, who in 1828 erected for tannery
purposes the first building at what is now called Rural
Grove. He comes from good old Holland stock, a race
which has done so much in the interest of colonization,
civilization and the development of moral and intellectual
powers.

His ancestors on his father’s side came from Alkmaar,
Holland, in 1639, just nineteen years after the Pilgrim
Fathers landed on Plymouth rock, where —

“ Amidst the storm they sang.

And the stars heard, and the sea;

And the sounding isles of the dim woods rang
To the anthem of the free.”

438

Noted Living Albanians.

They settled first on Long Island, then in New Jersey.
His ancestors on his grandmother’s side were also
Hollanders of the name of Vancovenhoven, a name which
was gradually abbreviated into that of Conover; and this
was his grandmother’s maiden name. This estimable lady
lived amidst stirring times in our country’s history. When
she was a little girl the battle of Monmouth was fought on
the 28th of June, 1778, on her father’s farm in New Jersey.
She witnessed the terrible conflict on that hot June day, and
in the evening heard the groans of the wounded and dying
as they were gathered and sheltered in the house and out-
buildings ofi her father, where she carried water to cool
their parched lips. In after years she loved to repeat to her
children the story of that battlefield, impressing upon them
the inestimable blessings of civil liberty.

The Vander Veer family have also been noted for their
lofty, undying patriotism. William Vander Veer, a relative
of the present doctor, was an officer in the Revolutionary
army, and a surgeon in the war of 1812. In the war for the
Union Col. Frederick Vander Veer, a cousin of the doctor,
commanded a brigade under Hooker, at Lookout Mountain,
and was one of the first to scale its rugged sides and plant
the ‘‘stars and stripes” on its heights. General William
Vander Veer, another relative of the doctor, originally
settled in Iowa, where he became a member of congress,
and also a general in the civil war. He now resides in
California. Captain Garret Vander Veer, a brother of the
doctor, was one of the bravest young men who died upon
our country’s altar. The thunder of Sumter’s guns stirred
his young patriotic spirit into action, and he could not rest
till he enlisted in the service, raising a company by his
own efforts. He made a splendid officer, but his career was

Albert Vander Veer.

439

cut short. In the fierce fight at Olustee, Fla., in 1863,
he was wounded three times during the day, but refused to
leave the field or turn his back upon the foe. He fought
with desperate bravery, and after the conflict was over, he
was removed to Beaufort, where he died of his wounds three
days afterward, at the age of thirty-two. Had he lived a
few days longer he would have received his commission as
lieutenant-colonel of the H5th N. Y. Vols. Three years later
his remains were brought back to his home in the north and
consigned to their last resting place, at Fultonville, N. Y.,
with martial honors, and amidst the tears of loved ones and
the friends of his youth. The G. A R. post at Fultonville
is named after this young man of Spartan courage.

■ Dr. Albert Vander Veer, the subject of our brief memoir,
was sent at a tender age to the public school at Palatine.
From a child he loved his books, and consequently his pro-
gress in the first lessons of education was not slow. In the
old school-house at Palatine he was fitted for the Canajo-
harie academy, where he became a diligent and successful
student, laying the foundation of a substantial intellectual
fabric.

But there was one subject that from boyhood engaged his
special attention. It was that of medicine, and his inclina-
tions were so strong in this direction that when a mere boy he
found great interest and satisfaction in dissecting birds and
various small animals. The choice of his profession being
now fully decided upon, at the age of eighteen he com-
menced the study oY medicine in the office of Dr. Simeon
Snow, of Root, N. Y., the father of Mrs. Vander Veer, and
also of the late lamented Dr. Norman L. Snow, of Albany.
He was now in his proper element, and for a year studied the
various medical text-books with all the enthusiasm and devo-

440

Noted Living Albanians.

tion of a genuine student. He was desirous of learning all
that was worth knowing within the range of his profession.
To continue his education in a larger sphere he came to
Albany and entered the office of Dr. John Swinburne, the
well-known surgeon. It was even then his early ambition
to rise to eminence in surgery, his chosen field of labor, and
how successfully he attained this object his later career has
fully shown.

In the autumn of i86i he attended a course of lectures at
the Albany Medical college. The civil war was now raging,
and the call for surgeons as w^ell as for soldiers was urgently
made. Young Vander Veer, filled with ardor for his pro-
fessional work, desired to go to the front, and prepare him-
self to attend to the wounded in the field or hospital. He
first served at the Ira Harris hospital as a state medical
cadet, and in May, 1862, was one of the original ‘‘one hun-
dred,” commissioned as a United States medical cadet, and
ordered to report for duty at Columbia College hospital at
Washington, D. C. While performing his regular duties at
his post he also attended a course of lectures at the Na-
tional Medical college there, where he had a wide field for
study and observation, and where his attainments in his pro-
fession were soon so high that at the close of 1862 this in-
stitution conferred upon him the degree of M. D. He was
immediately, on examination, commissioned by Surgeon-
General S. O. Vanderpoel as an assistant surgeon of the
Sixty-sixth regiment of New York volunteers, and in the
following year was advanced to the grdde of surgeon with
the rank of major. In the army he performed most effi-
cient service in behalf of the wounded soldiers, w^orking day
and night, and trying by all possible means to alleviate their
sufferings and save their lives. He served thus faithfully

Albert Vander Veer.

441

with the Sixty-sixth regiment until the close of the war, and
was mustered out in September, 1865. His medical record
during the war was a splendid one. His experience as a
surgeon was of inestimable advantage to himself as well as
to his regiment, the fruits of which he has ever since been
gathering with abundant success.

Dr. Vander Veer is one of those physicians whose thirst
after knowledge pertaining especially to his profession can
never be satisfied, and to perfect as far as possible his at-
tainments in medical science he attended a full course of
lectures in the autumn and winter of 1865 and 1866, at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city. In
the spring of 1866 he returned to Albany — the scene of his
earlier studies, and established himself in the general prac-
tice of his profession, where the passing years ever since have
witnessed his remarkable success as a most skillful surgeon.

In the summer of 1869 Dr. Vander Veer was appointed to
the chair of general and special anatomy in the Albany
Medical college, from which, about the same time, he re-
ceived the honorary title of M. D. He now became attend-
ing surgeon in the Albany hospital, and in 1874, was ap-
pointed to the same position in St. Peter’s hospital.

With a view of studying the various modes of treatment
adopted by the great surgeons of the old world Dr. Vander
Veer visited Europe in the fall of 1874, and there, during
the winter, found time to gratify his special taste and to
further enrich his stores of medical learning. Returning
home in the following spring he was prepared to resume his
professional work with renewed zest. On the re-organiza-
tion of the Albany Medical college, in 1876, he accepted the
professorship of the principles and practice of surgery. In
1882 he was appointed to the position which he still holds

442

Noted Living Albanians.

in the college — that of professor of surgery and clinical sur-
gery. Several of our leading literary institutions now grace-
fully recognized his intellectual qualities by the bestowment
of their honors. In 1882, Williams college gave him the
degree of A. M., and in 1883, Hamilton and Union colleges
that of Ph. D.

As a teacher in the Albany Medical college, Dr. Vander
Veer has labored assiduously, and success has crowned his
well-directed efforts in the cause of maimed and suffering;
humanity. His lectures to the students are evidently pre-
pared with great care and research, while they are delivered
with force and earnestness. The doctor has always cher-
ished the best interests of this time-honored institution with
which he is connected, as well as of the medical profession
in general.

In 1884, feeling greatly in need of a season of rest and re-
laxation from the close and confining duties of his professor-
ship and practice, he again sailed for Europe, accompanied
by his wife and young son. While abroad he met with a
warm reception from eminent surgeons and physicians, for
his high reputation had already preceded him. He was
cordially entertained by Mr. La\vson Tait, F. R. C. S., whose
fame as a surgical specialist is world wide. In the interests
of his profession he read a paper before the International
Medical congress at Copenhagen. After visiting various
points of interest abroad he returned home greatly invigor-
ated in body and mind. Outside of his own profession, it
may be here stated that the doctor is a great lover of the
fine arts, and while on the other side of the ocean he visited
•many of the famous galleries of Europe, studying with
absorbing interest and delight the works of the great mas-
ters in sculpture, painting and engraving.

Albert Vander Veer.

443

Dr. Vander Veer has been president and a member of
both the county and state medical societies. He is more-
over a member of the Boston Gynaecological society ; the
British Medical association ; the International Medical con-
gress held at Copenhagen in 1884; the British Gynaecologi-
cal society ; the American Surgical association ; the Holland
society of New York, of which he is now vice-president for
the Albany district ; the American Medical association ; the
New York Medico-Legal society ; the Albany institute, and
the American association of Obstetricians and Gynaecol-
ogists.

Dr. Vander Veer is already a prolific writer on surgical
subjects, of which the following are among the principal
contributions ; The Operation for Stone as observed in
some of the London hospitals, together with* a report of
cases from private practice ; ” Operation for Closure of
Cleft of the Hard and Soft Palates ; ” “ Report of three cases
of Excision of the Rectum ; ” Report of eight cases of
Uterine Fibroids ; ” Report of ten cases of Gastric Ulcer,
one case Malignant Ulcer of the Stomach, and two cases
Perforating Ulcer of the Jejunum ; ” ‘^Defective Drainage,”
a paper read at the Albany institute, October, 1882 ; ‘‘Re-
port of cases of Trifacial Neuralgia;” “Some Personal Ob-
servations on the work of Lawson Tait, together with a re-
port of five cases of Abdominal Section ; ’’ “ Case of Sub-
cutaneous Section of Femur above Trochanter Major;”
“ Cleft Palate and Hare Lip,” for Wood’s Reference Hand-
book of the Medical Science ; “ Stone in the Bladder,” read
before the American Surgical association ; and among the
latest of these, a pamphlet on “ The Operation for Ovarian
Tumors,” published for the benefit of the profession. “Neces-
sity for Complete Removal of Uterine Appendages whenever

444

Noted Living Albanians.

Operation is called for;” “A case of Infantile Menstrua-
tion ; ” “ Intestinal Obstruction ; ” “ The Relation of the
Abdominal Surgeon to the Obstetrician and Gynaecologist ; ”
“To what extent can we classify Vesical Calculi for Op-
eration ? ” “ Concealed Pregnancy — Its Relation to Ab-
dominal Surgery ; ” “ The Medico-Legal Aspect of Abdomi-
nal Surgery ; ” introductory address of the course of
1879-80 at the Albany Medical college, delivered October
7, 1879; “ Water Supply of Cities and Villages,’’ the anni-
versary address before the Medical Society of the State of
New York, delivered at Albany, February 3, 1886;”
“ Obituary Notice of Alden March, M. D., LL. D.,” delivered
at University Convocation, 1870. We may state here that
the doctor is now paying the very closest attention to ab-
dominal diseases at the Albany hospital and in his private
practice, and that he has just given to the public a“ History
of Abdominal Section in Albany,” with a report of seventy-
five cases.

Besides his work in his study and in the lecture-room, and
his attendance at the hospital. Dr. Vander Veer carries on
his daily private practice at his office, corner of State and
Eagle streets. The poor as well as the rich receive the same
careful attention at the doctor’s hands, while many of the
former have only their gratitude to return for services ren-
dered. The doctor cannot turn a deaf ear to the calls of
the suffering, and many a long trip does he make in response
for medical aid. He is a member, and since the death of
Judge Hand has been president of the special water com-
mission. Has been for many years a member of the board
of health of Albany. With a commanding presence, a large
and wonderfully active brain, a sound constitution and an
iron will, and consummate skill in his chosen work. Dr. Van-

Albert Vander Veer;

445

der Veer, now in the very prime of life, is pursuing his call-
ing with all his former ardor, and with the earnest wish
among thousands of Albanians and others, that many more
years may be added to his useful and notable career before
he is called from his earthly labors.

THEODORE V. VAN HEUSEN.

HEODORE V. Van Heusen was born in i8i8, in the

city of Albany, N. Y. He is descended from the
German and Scotch on his mother’s side, and from the
Holland Dutch on his father’s side. In this blending of
lineage he inherits those leading qualities of intellect* and
heart, which have exerted such a powerful influence in the
civilization, progress, intelligence and refinement of past
and present generations.

His paternal ancestors, the Van Heusens, were early
settled along the borders of the Hudson river, especially in
the region now known as Columbia county, where they
owned a large and valuable estate.

The life of Theodore V. Van Heusen has been spent thus
far in his native city. He has been a constant witness of its
steady growth and its increasing prosperity. In his youth
he played upon its rude, unpaved streets and looked upon
its old houses with their striking gable-ends. He was a
small boy when the grand celebration of the completion of
the Erie canal took place in the city of Albany, during the
governorship of De Witt Clinton, the projector and earnest
advocate of that great enterprise.

In 1828 Mr. Van Heusen lost his father, and thus, at the
early age of ten, was thrown mostly on his own resources,

Theodore V. Van Heusen.

447

his father having died poor. But he began early to lay a
substantial foundation for future usefulness, in the acquisi-
tion of a knowledge of the elementary principles of educa-
tion. For several years he attended the best private
schools of Albany, and when thirteen years of age was sent
to the old Lancaster school, an excellent institution of learn-
ing in its day. This school building was long ago con-
verted into the Albany Medical college, from which so
many physicians of our times have graduated. So well
grounded in the elementary branches of education was
young Van Heusen when he entered the Lancaster school,
where the average attendance was three hundred pupils, that
he always maintained his rank as the foremost scholar in the
school, and even assumed the responsibility of an assistant
teacher of the younger pupils.

At the age of fifteen he completed his school education,
when he found it necessary, and entered upon the arena of
an active business life to earn his own living. Entering the
crockery store of the Messrs. McIntosh as an errand boy, he
soon rose to be head clerk of the concern. It would seem
that about this time, when he had reached his twentieth
year, he was urged by some of his friends to study for the
ministry, but lack of pecuniary means and an affection of the
throat rendered this impracticable.

In 1843 Heusen entered into partnership with

Mr. Charles in the crockery, china and silver ware business;
and thus found his life-long occupation. He was then but
twenty-five years of age, and the business thus established
has been continued with increasing volume during a period
of forty-seven years, until it has attained its present ample,
flourishing proportions.

Though not an active politician, Mr. Van Heusen was

448

Noted Living Albanians.

unanimously nominated by the republicans of the Sixteenth
congressional district, in 1882, for representative in congress.
He is a ready writer and debater, and has written and
lectured on several subjects, such as ancient and modern
pottery, porcelains, etc.

In a letter to the Albany Evening Journal dated October
31, 1888, Mr. Van Heusen states his views on the tariff and
political matters.

‘‘ I had this in mind, viz., that there is in the minds of our
people a feeling of discontent against the present tariff,
which was enacted to meet a condition of affairs not now
existing, producing a larger revenue than is required for the
administration of our government and a provocative to prodi-
gal legislation of more than doubtful propriety, such as the
river and harbor bill, uncalled for and unwise pension bills
and the like, none of v/hich would be thought of except for
the fact that the treasury is overflowing. To remedy this
evil the time has come to adjust matters to meet the pres-
ent condition of affairs and lift from the people every bur-
den possible in connection with the tariff and internal reve-
nue finances. Now how to do this is taxing the best thought
of our legislators, most of whom, I prefer to believe, are
honest and really desirous to promote the best interests of
our country. It is a subject too complex, intricate and far-
reaching to be easily understood or fairly comprehended by
even the wisest of our people. A perfect tariff bill has
never existed, and never can exist, until a body of perfect
men can be brought together to draft it, hence we will never
have one. To come as near to this as possible to conserve
and preserve the best interests of all concerned with ‘ mal-
ice toward none and charity for all ’ — to harmonize the
diverse and conflicting interests of our vast country so as to

Theodore V. Van Heusen.

449

do the most good and the least harm — to any and all of
our people, this is the task that confronts us, and it cannot
be shirked. Now who shall do this ? For myself, I say
that the republican party is the best qualified for the work
by reason of intelligence and patriotism. Both of these
qualities have been amply shown in the history of this party
during its existence, and its mission is not ended. I do not
favor the Mills bill altogether, neither do I the senate bill.
My hope is that out of both will be solved a wise and just
tariff, which will insure our present and future prosperity.
With the poetic idea of free trade I have no sympathy and
dismiss it by saying we cannot afford it. I am in cordial
affiliation with the republican party. My first vote was given
in 1840, to Gen. Harrison, with the enthusiastic ardor of
young manhood, and I served in the ranks with song and
speech to secure his election. And now, after the interim
of so many years, I expect to vote for his grandson, for
whom I feel great respect and confidence, with assurance
also that the government will be well and truly administered
by him. If there is a cleaner, more judicious man ; one
more entitled to implicit confidence than Gen. Harrison in
all our country, I do not know him, neither have I heard of
him. The republican ticket in this state and in the nation
is worthy the support of every right-minded citizen. If it
was an honor and pride to be a Roman citizen, how much
greater to be able to say I am a republican of the greatest
republic that has ever existed.”

Theo. V. Van Heusen.

In 1863, Mr. Van Heusen married Miss Arabella J. Man-
ning of Jamaica Plain, Mass. The fruits of this union were
four sons, William Manning Van Heusen, Charles Manning
57

450

Noted Living Albanians.

Van Heusen, Richard Fletcher Van Heusen and John
Manning Van Heusen.

William Manning Van Heusen graduated from the Albany
academy in 1884; studied three years at Harvard univer-
sity, received the degree of Ph. B. from the Columbia Uni-
versity School of Political Science, studied two years at the
Columbia Law school, received the degree of LL. B. from
the Albany Law school, and was admitted to the bar of
this state in 1890.

Charles M. Van Heusen has chosen as his occupation the
crockery, china and silverware business, and is now engaged
in the house established by his father and Mr. Charles forty-
seven years ago.

Richard Fletcher Van Heusen studied chemistry and
pharmacy at Cornell and at the University of Michigan.
For some time he was connected with the large house of
Burroughs & Wellcome, manufacturing chemists, London,
and he is now with Messrs. Fairchild Bros. & Foster, of
New York city.

John M. Van Heusen has been in the employ of the First
National bank, served as assistant book-keeper in the Na-
tional Commercial bank, and recently accepted a position
of responsibility with the T. T. Haydock Carriage Manu-
facturing Co., which he was obliged to abandon owing to
ill-health.

A man of broad intelligence and enlightened understand-
ing on all the principal subjects of literature and art, of un-
tiring industry and perseverance, of strict integrity and fine
social qualities, Theodore V. Van Heusen is still pursuing
the “ even tenor of his way,” attending to his extensive
commercial interests, and rounding out a long, useful, active
and honorable life.

WILLIAM B. VAN RENSSELAER.

ILLIAM Bayard Van Rensselaer, one of the few

Albany, was born in this city on the 4th of October, 1856.
He is a son of Bayard Van Rensselaer and Laura Reynolds,
both natives of Albany. His father died in 1859, t)ut his
mother is still living. His ancestry which is well known to
the students of our early history is a remarkable one, of
which we have only time and space here to give a pass-
ing notice. His great-grandfather, Hon. Stephen Van Rens-
selaer, was a man of high character and left a noble record
behind him. His services in the history of our city, state
and nation command admiration. He was born in the city
of New Y ork, in 1 764, and was the fifth in lineal descent from
the first ancestor of the family in America. His father was
Stephen Van Rensselaer, who built the present manor house
in Albany, as hereinafter referred to. His mother was
Catharine, daughter of Philip Livingston, one of the signers
of the declaration of independence. Gen. Ten Broeck, his
uncle, had the management of his estate until he reached
the age of twenty-one. He attended school in Albany and
at the Kingston academy, where he was a class-mate of old
Abraham Van Vechten, afterward a distinguished lawyer of
Albany. The young students became fast friends through

living descendants of the Van Rensselaer family in

452

Noted Living Albanians.

life. Stephen Van Rensselaer first entered Princeton col-
lege, but on account of the troubles incident to the revolu-
tionary period in the history of New Jersey, he went to
Harvard college, where he graduated in 1782 at the age of
nineteen. The following year he married Margaret, daughter
of Gen. Philip J. Schuyler, who died in 1801, leaving a son,
Stephen. His second wife was a daughter of Judge
Patterson, of New Jersey, of the United States su-
preme court. Old Stephen Van Rensselaer held many
important and responsible offices, being member of the
assembly in 1789, 1808, 1810 and 1816; state senator from
1791 to 1795 ; lieutenant-governor of the state from 1795 to
i8or ; a colonel of the state cavalry in the war of 1812, per-
forming efficient service on the Canadian frontier ; member
of congress from 1822 to 1829; chancellor of the university
in 1835 ; for twenty-two years a canal commissioner and for
fifteen years president of the board. The manor house at
the head of Broadway, built in 1765, was his residence, and
here he died on the 26th of January, 1839.

His son Stephen married Harriet Bayard of New York.
They lived in the house now known as St. Peter’s hos-
pital, until his father Stephen died, and then he enlarged
the manor house by adding the wings on each side, moved
into it after the repairs, in 1844, and continued to live there
until his death in 1868.

Old Killian Van Rensselaer, the original ancestor of the
family name of whom we have any account, was a merchant
of Amsterdam, Holland, who about the year 1630 availed
himself of the privileges offered by the assembly of the XIX,
and commissioners of the states-general, passed in 1629, by
which all members of the West India Company, who planted
a colony of fifty souls over fifteen years of age, were to be

William B. Van Rensselaer.

453

acknowledged patroons of the New Netherlands. Killian
further perfected his title to the lands thus granted by pur-
chasing the same from the Indians. These purchases em-
braced a large territory, extending from Baeren Island to
Cohoes Falls, and from the Hudson river twenty-four miles
back upon both sides. Fort Orange only being reserved by
the West India Company. It is not certain whether he ever
came to see his new lands along the banks of the Hudson.
If he did, it was only on a brief visit. He died in 1648, and
his son Johannes succeeded him in the control of his large
estates here. It is moreover uncertain whether Johannes
Van Rensselaer himself ever looked upon the then dense
forests of Greenbush or the rising, wooded hills where now
stands the city of Albany. It is believed by many that he
actually came here, and in 1642 built the old mansion at
Greenbush, which still stands as a curious relic of bye-gone
ages. It was first called the Crailo, and used as a fort. In
1740 an addition was made to the building. It is worth
while for any one to visit this old mansion, built the very
year in which the thunders of Cromwell’s guns and those of
Charles the First were beginning to shake England in a
terrible civil war, and which has survived the many civil and
political conflicts and revolutions of the world since that
period.

Killian Van Rensselaer’s two grandsons, both named
Killian, respectively the sons of his sons Johannes and
Jeremiah, are known to have come to America and to have
settled here ; and probably their uncle, John Baptiste Van
Rensselaer, came also. The English patents to this family
are given to these two Killians^ the grandsons of the elder
Killian, in trust for their grandfather. By the later patents
it is recited that Killian, the son of Johannes, died without

454

Noted Living Albanians.

issue, and the grant was confirmed to Killian, the son of
Jeremiah, in trust for Killian, his grandfather. After the
death of Killian, the grandfather, Jeremiah’s son, Killian,
bought out the interest of all the other heirs in this property
and became the sole owner thereof ; his eldest son was
Jeremias, who died unmarried, and the property went to the
second son, Stephen, whose eldest son, Stephen, became the
seventh patroon, or lord of the manor, and died in 1769, just
after completion of the present manor house on North
Broadway. This latter Stephen was the great-great-grand-
father of the present William Bayard Van Rensselaer.

William Bayard Van Rensselaer, the subject of our
memoir, is the direct lineal descendent of these patroons,
and had not the laws of the state of New York broken up
and prohibited the entailing of property, he would be the
patroon and owner of this vast property comprising all of
the present Albany county and the principal part of Rens-
selaer county. In early boyhood he attended the Normal
school and the Albany Boys’ academy. With a view of
seeking advantages of a continuous course of instruction he
was sent to a boarding school at Catskill, where he was a
pupil for two years. There he not only pursued his studies
with diligence and with a genuine love for books, but was
particularly delighted with the bold, inspiring, natural
scenery around him. And while his youthful intellectual
powers were properly developed his slight, physical frame
was strengthened by the healthful influences of rural life.
At the close of this two years’ study he exchanged the grand
views of the neighboring Catskill mountains for those of the
granite hills of New Hampshire. In 1869, when a boy of
thirteen, he became a student of St. Paul’s school, New
Hampshire, an institution designed for larger boys, at that

VViLLiAxM B. Van Rensselaer.

455

time having about fifty pupils, but since grown to over
three hundred, including at present a number of Albany
boys. There for six years he made a steady and successful
progress in ascending the hill of science. When those six
years of study had passed away, our young student, now
nineteen years of age, was well prepared to enter college.
And in 1875 we find him a freshman in Harvard university,
then as now under the presidency of Charles Elliot, where
on completing the regular course of four years he graduated
in 1879. After this he attended the Harvard Law school
for one year, enjoying the able instruction of Langdell,
president of the law school.

Mr. Van Rensselaer, naturally inclined to the study of
legal science, had early determined to make it a life-long
pursuit. But before completing his legal studies, an agree-
able social event occurred in his life. In the fall of 1880 he
married Miss Louisa G. Lane, the amiable and accom-
plished daughter of Prof. Lane of Harvard university, whose
acquaintance he had made while at college. Returning to
Albany shortly after his marriage, he continued his law
studies in the office of Messrs. Marcus T. and Leonard G.
Hun; and was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1882.
And thus after a continuous student life of nearly twenty
years he finished his preparatory studies, and opened an
office for the general practice of law in the Hun building,
corner of North Pearl street and Maiden Lane.

A circumstance happened about this time which turned
his attention from the more active duties of a general
counselor, and concentrated his services in the line of real
estate property. In 1881, on the death of Charles Van
Zandt, long the agent of the property of the late Stephen
Van Rensselaer, he was appointed as the most suitable

456

Noted Living Albanians.

person to take charge of the estate. His knowledge and
experience in laws governing real estate matters are exten-
sive, and his judgment upon such matters is recognized to
be sound and safe.

In the fall of 1885, at his suggestion, the numerous heirs
of the Stephen Van Rensselaer estate conveyed their in-
terests in the property to the Van Rensselaer Land Com-
pany, Albany. Of this recently organized company Mr.
Van Rensselaer was made treasurer and general manager,
and in this capacity he still acts with great discretion, faith-
fulness and ability, and with a perfect familiarity with the
numerous and often complicated questions which come
before him.

Mr. Van Rensselaer has already taken an active part in
the business, financial, commercial and literary affairs of his
native city, and has shown himself to be a careful, judicious
and capable man in his public as well as private trusts.
He is a director in the New York State National bank ; a
trustee of the Albany Savings bank ; a director of the
Cohoes Company, a company incorporated in 1823, and
which supplies all the factories of Cohoes with their water
power. He is one of the original members of the Fort Or-
ange club, in whose prosperity he has taken a deep interest.
He is also a member of the University club, the Reform
club, and the Holland society, all of New York city.

It may fairly be said that to the enterprise of Mr. Van
Rensselaer are largely due all the improvements that are in
progress in the northern part of the city of Albany, such as
good drainage and pavements, as well as the new bridges to
be built over the Erie canal at Albany — improvements
which are much needed and which will be appreciated by
our citizens when completed. In politics, Mr. Van Rens-

William B. Van Rensselaer.

457

selaer is an independent, voting for the men who, he believes,
will best perform the duties of the offices for which they are
candidat.es. He is a member of All Saints’ Cathedral con-
gregation, and much interested in the building of the new
and beautiful cathedral on Elk, La Fayette and Swan
streets in this city.

A man of refined tastes and of extensive reading in
general literature, Mr. Van Rensselaer gives his influence
and his material support towards whatever is elevating and
ennobling in social, moral and intellectual life. And this
he does without ostentation, exhibiting the leading charac-
teristics of a true manhood. A man of public spirit, and
having the strongest feelings of attachment for his native
city, he is ever interested in all public matters concerning
the same, and always ready to assist in any movement that
will tend to make the city more attractive or to increase its
importance as a business and commercial center.

In the recent centennial celebration of the city of Albany
he acted well his part in making it a grand success. He
was an active member of the general committee, and of the
sub-committee that gave the historical parade which will
long be remembered as one of the most Imposing features

of that occasion. Exhibiting those qualities both of the
head and the heart, which fit a man to become useful in
society, as well as sound and successful in official or pro-
fessional duties, he has already gained, at the comparatively
early age of thirty-four, a worthy name among the rising
representative young men of our old Dutch city.

HOWARD VAN RENSSELAER.

Among the rising young men of our city, one whose
fine tastes, cultured manners, general and profes-
sional intelligence, have brought him into favorable notice
among a large circle of friends, is Dr. Howard Van Rensse-
laer, of 94 Columbia street. He was born in Albany on the
26th of June, 1858, and spent his earliest years in the old
Dutch city, in which his forefathers, many generations ago,
took such a prominent part in its history and development,
as well as in that of the surrounding country. Many an in-
teresting and eventful page have they furnished for our
municipal and county annals. But they have almost all
passed away to the silent land, and new generations of
various nationalities have come to take their place, showing
the mutability of human affairs and the ever-occurring
changes of life.

As we have already in the sketch of William Bayard Van
Rensselaer, the brother of our present subject, given a suc-
cinct account of the ancestry of the Van Rensselaer family,
we need only refer the reader to that memoir for informa-
tion on this point. Howard Van Rensselaer is a son of
Bayard Van Rensselaer, a native Albanian, whose earthly
career was closed in 1859, when the boy was but nine
months old. Thus early deprived of a father’s watchful

Howard Van Rensselaer

459

care and love he was tenderly nursed and reared by his
mother, a woman of many virtues, whose maiden name was
Laura Reynolds, daughter of the celebrated Marcus Tullius
Reynolds, who in his day was one of the brightest stars in
the legal profession in Albany. This estimable lady still
lives to receive the grateful homage of her sons for training
them in ways of usefulness, gentleness, morality and intel-
lectual aspiration.

At an early age Howard was placed in the Normal school
at Albany, where he learned the elementary branches, and
was inspired with a deep love for the pursuit of knowledge.
Later on he became a pupil of the Albany academy, where
so many of our Albany boys have received the best instruc-
tion under well-known, competent and painstaking teachers.
On leaving the Albany academy, after having been there
two terms, he was sent to a private boarding school at Cats-
kill, noted for its excellency in the instruction of boys and
for its grand, natural, healthful surroundings. He remained
there three years, when he went to St. Paul’s school at
Concord, N. H. He was but twelve years of age
when he entered that quite noted school of the granite
state, where larger boys are thoroughly trained both in in-
tellectual and physical education. And there during six
years he pursued his literary course with great interest and
improvement, paying special attention to his favorite
department — that of scientific study and investigation.
His diligence and proficiency were clearly shown while at
St. Paul’s school by his there taking a yearly testimonial
for high standing and two literary prizes, also the school
medal, the highest honor given at St. Paul’s. But while a
studious youth he did not overlook the importance of phys-
ical exercise in the preservation of health or in the strength-

460

Noted Living Albanians.

ening of the muscles. He became much interested in
athletic sports, and being very agile in his movements suc-
ceeded in some of the school pedestrian contests and in
making the record of three-mile walk and one-mile walk,
which have never since been beaten. He was also stroke
in the successful school crew; on first eleven in cricket club,
and got in that when he was in the third form, which was
rather early; and was also president of the athletic associa-
tion.

On leaving the school in Concord at the age of eighteen,
Mr. Van Rensselaer attended the Yale Scientific school,
taking the course preparatory to medicine, graduating there
with honor in 1881, and taking the degree of Ph. B. He
v/as also a student for some time in the Yale Art school.
He took a literary prize at Yale and made the record there
in walking. On his college graduation he was not at a loss
what profession to chose for life work ; for from the early
age of thirteen the study of medicine was uppermost in his
thoughts, and to gratify his desires in this respect, at some
future day, was his highest ambition. Accordingly, when he
had fully completed his scientific studies he immediately
started for New York and entered the College of Physicians
and Surgeons, then under the direction of Drs. Clark,
Dalton, Sands and other eminent medical instructors. He
was now more than ever in his element, and for three years
attended the regular courses of lectures and read with avid-
ity and a retentive memory all the principal standard
works relating to the various branches of his profession.
To gain a more practical knowledge of medical science and
a larger experience in the best methods of treatment he went
for some time into the Chambers Street hospital as an
assistant practitioner, and also became a student in the post

Howard Van Rensselaer.

461

graduate medical school. Finding hospital experience of so
great advantage to him in rounding out his medical attain-
ments he passed the severe competitive examination for the
New York hospital and as interne remained there the re-
quired eighteen months. While there he entertained the
idea of visiting the old world with a view of st udying disease
in its various forms and symptoms and the different modes
of treatment as adopted in the largest hospitals by the most
celebrated physicians.

Carrying out his plans for foreign study and observation
we next find him crossing the Atlantic, and landing on the
shores of Germany in January, 1887. He visited all the
great hospitals of Europe, excepting those of Spain, study-
ing in the hospitals of Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Munich, Lon-
don, Edinburgh, etc. He was careful to embrace and im-
prove the rare opportunities then offered to him, and two
years were thus passed — years which were not spent in vain
— in the search after new medical light, and the latest and
most scientific modes of treatment in multitudes of cases.
In the meantime, he partially changed his medical investi-
gations by making flying visits to many a famous place in
European history. From the North cape he found his way
through romantic regions to Constantinople and the classic
soil of Greece. While in Norway he made a special study
of leprosy in the hospitals there, and saw more than four
hundred cases.

Dr. Van Rensselaer is, moreover, a great lover of the fine
arts, and has visited nearly all the famous galleries of Eu-
rope and looked with admiring eyes upon the works of the
grand old masters.

On the 1st of February, 1889, after an absence of two
years, he returned from Europe greatly benefited both pro-

462

Noted Living Albanians.

fessionally and physically, and settled down again in his na-
tive city. He was at once appointed visiting physician to
St. Peter’s hospital and the dispensary of the Child’s hospi-
tal— positions which by previous education and experience
he is well qualified to fill. During the fall of 1889 he was
appointed instructor of nervous diseases, and diseases of the
chest, at the Albany Medical college. In December he was
given the position of attending physician to the Hospital for
Incurables. In January, 1890, he was elected visiting phy-
sician to the Home of the Friendless. In June he was called
to the position of lecturer on materia medica at the Albany
Medical college.

Besides his visits and studies abroad. Dr. Van Rensselaer
has traveled extensively on the American continent, and
with keen observation of human character and natural scen-
ery, has looked upon the wildness of the Rocky moun-
tains, the wonders of Colorado, the Yellowstone regions and
the glories of southern California. He has also visited the
West India islands.

He is a member of several well-known clubs and literary
societies in the country, such as the Calumet club of New
York ; the Berzelius club of Yale college — the oldest scien-
tific society in the Union ; and the Fort Orange club of our
city.

In his personal appearance Dr. Van Rensselaer is of the
medium size, with an impressive countenance, dark hair and
eyes, easy and gentlemanly in his manners, with the thought-
ful look of the student, and without the least affectation.
He is altogether a person who apparently takes real enjoy-
ment in his chosen profession, in books, in artistic designs,
and in the beauties and sublimities of nature.

SAMUEL M. VAN SANTVOORD.

IN THE exhibition of those qualities which go to form a
popular and successful merchant and a true and useful
citizen, we have a notable example in the career of Mr. Sam-
uel M. Van Santvoord, who for the past twenty-seven years
has been a prominent figure in Albany. He is a self-made
man in the mercantile line, who has gained a most enviable
reputation, reflecting honor upon himself and the useful oc-
cupation which he early chose for a life-long pursuit. From
a humble origin, and amidst difficulties before which many a
young heart would have quailed, he succeeded in laying a
solid foundation as a business man, showing what opportuni-
ties our country affords to those who, well grounded in cor-
rect principles, set out in life’s pathway with a determina-
tion to rise in the world.

Born in the city of Schenectady on the 2d of October,
1819, he is a descendant of the old Hollanders, many of
whom came to this county long before the revolutionary
era, in the interests of trade, religion and human progress,
settling in dense forests, which, under their industrious hands,
were finally turned into fruitful fields. Schenectady and the
rich valley of the Mohawk were favorite places for the set-
tlement of those sturdy old Dutch pioneers. Among these
■early settlers was the Van Santvoord family of Schenec-

464

Noted Living Albanians.

tady — a family noted in the old history of that place for
many sterling qualities.

Samuel M. Van Santvoord, the subject of this sketch, is
a son of Zeger Van Santvoord, who was born on the 21st of
June, 1783, and who died on the 28th of November, 1824,
when his son Samuel was but five years old. His mother’s
maiden name was Elizabeth Loague. His grandfather,
Cornelius Van Santvoord, was a son of Zeger Van Sant-
voord, of Schenectady, who married Eva, daughter of Abra-
ham Swits, and who died on the 12th of March, 1845, the
eighty-eighth year of his age. His wife had preceded him to
the grave on the 8th of June, 1835, in the seventy-fourth
year of her age.

The first of the Van Santvoord family in America was the
Rev. Cornelius Van Santvoord, who was born in Holland in
1637, and who came to this country about the year 1718,
and became pastor of the Reformed Dutch church of
Staten Island. At the University of Leyden he had been
highly educated in classical and theological science. From
Staten Island he was called in the year 1740 to the pastor-
ate of the old Reformed Dutch church in Schenectady, and
became its fifth minister. There he labored twelve years in
the ministry, dying in 1752, aged fifty-five years. He was
twice married. His first wife was Anna, daughter of Jo-
hannes Staats of Staten Island, where all his children were
born. His second wife was Elizabeth Toll, of Schenectady,
who left no issue. He was a man of eminent piety and of
profound and varied learning. It is said that he could preach
equally well in the English, French and Dutch languages.

A fatherless boy at the age of five, Samuel M. Van Sant-
voord was soon to become the main support of his widowed
mother. In the mean time he was sent to the' Lancaster

Samuel M. Van Santvoord.

465

school in Schenectady, where under its principal, old Nicho-
las Van Vranken, a model Dutch pedagogue, he learned the
first principles of reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and
grammar from the simple text-books of those days. He
was an industrious and studious boy, and in a very few years
had acquired a fair knowledge of the common, practical
branches of education. But when he had reached the age
of eleven it became necessary for him to leave school and
try to earn something for the family, whose pecuniary means
were very limited. Like a dutiful son, his young hands v/ill-
ingly undertook the task. He was not long in deciding
what to do. There was one occupation that had strong at-
tractions for him from his tenderest years, and that was the
mercantile business. In this direction all his boyish ener-
gies now turned, while new hope sprang up in his bosom.
Fully determined to become a merchant, we find this boy of
eleven a clerk in the dry goods store of William McCamus,
a leading Schenectady merchant. It was a fortunate cir-
cumstance for young Van Santvoord, for Mr. McCamus took
a deep interest in the lively, plucky lad, who had made up
his mind not only to earn his own living, but also to assist
his mother in her struggles against poverty.

The step he now took was deserving of the highest praise
and worthy of imitation by all youth similarly situated. For
his filial obedience and his earnest and devoted efforts in behalf
of the welfare of his mother, he has since been amply re-
warded. Without the aid of the higher education of the
schools he soon mastered the details of the dry goods busi-
ness, and so harmoniously did he get along with Mr.
McCamus that he remained in his store during the long
period of twenty years. From the age of twenty-one until the
time he left Schenectady he was a partner with Mr. McCamus;
59

466

Noted Living Albanians.

and it is doubtless true that to the counsels and training of
this experienced old merchant he has been in some measure
indebted for the success which has since attended his efforts
in the same line of business.

In 1853 Santvoord removed to New York city,

where for nine years he was engaged in the wholesale dry
goods trade. In 1862, with a more extensive knowledge of
his business and a much larger experience in its practical
bearing, he came to Albany, where he has since resided,
spending a busy life amidst the duties of his chosen occupa-
tion. He has become strongly attached to the city of his
adoption, while at the same time he has gathered around
him hosts of warm friends. He was first engaged here in
the old dry goods house of Strong, Whitney & Co., and
afterward with Smith, Lansing & Co., until their business
was closed in consequence of the death of the partners.

In 1869 Mr. Van Santvoord entered the store of William
M. Whitney, and soon afterward became a general partner
of the concern, in which, for about twenty years, he has
been devoting his best energies in working to build up a
large trade. His special department was the wholesale busi-
ness, with which he had become so familiar Avhile in New
York, and the making of credits for the firm. It is but just
to say that to his business tact and industry and his general
perfect adaptation to mercantile pursuits, the store of W. M.
Whitney is no little indebted for its present popularity and
prosperity. Under the judicious management of Mr. Van
Santvoord and his able assistants the business of the firm
has steadily grown until now it is one of the largest estab-
lishments of the kind in the country. It is also a fact
worthy of mention and commendation, that during his
twenty years’ connection with this important mercantile cen-

Samuel M. Van Santvoord.

467

ter, Mr. Van Santvoord has given his closest attention to its
business, as year after year has passed away, seldom enjoy-
ing even a brief vacation.

On the 2d of February, 1889, Mr. Van Santvoord retired
temporarily from business, and for the present enjoys a
much needed relaxation and repose from the onerous duties
of a merchant’s life.

On the 29th of October, 1850, Mr. Van Santvoord was
married to Miss Mary A. Lovett, daughter of Henry Lovett,
Esq., of Schenectady, by whom he has had four children.
Three of them are living, Mrs. Charles R. Hall, Mrs. E. B.
Toedt, whose husband is the manager of Fairbanks’ scale
works, in this city, and a son, William M. Van Santvoord.
In her severe, long protracted physical ailments of a spinal
nature Mrs. Van Santvoord has the entire sympathy of all
who are acquainted with her. For the past fifteen years,
with the fortitude and patience of a true Christian lady, she
has borne up bravely under the heavy load of bodily afflic-
tion, with a faith directed toward that land where there
shall be “ no more pain.” Mr. and Mrs. Van Santvoord
are members of the church of the Holy Innocents. Of Mr.
Van Santvoord’s father’s family of ten children only two
members are now living — himself and Mrs. Margaret Bruen,
widow of the late James D. Bruen, of Newark, N. J.

Mr. Van Santvoord is one of the most genial of men.
Blessed with a sound, impressive physique, he is nearly six
feet in height, with a clear, open countenance beaming with
serenity and good will to all, and, at the same time, indica-
tive of unusual mental activity. In every respect he has
shown himself to be a thorough business man and a perfect
gentleman — beloved by a large circle of friends and living,
so far as we know, without an enemy. And now, in the

468

Noted Living Albanians.

fullness of his manhood he has won the reputation of being
an accomplished merchant, and the still higher honor of
being a true and faithful friend. And well may we ask
what is to be seen on earth —

“More beautiful, or excellent, or fair, .

Than face of faithful friend — fairest when seen in darkest day —

Some I remember, and will ne’er forget.

My early friends — friends of my evil day.

Friends of my mirth, friends of my misery, too.

Friends given by God in mercy and in love —

O, I remember, and will ne’er forget.”

SAMUEL BALDWIN WARD.

This gentleman was born in the city of New York on
the 8th of June, 1842. His ancestry is found to be
English on both sides. His great grandfather was named
Samuel Ward and was born August 27, 1724. He moved
from the state of Virginia to Morristown, N. J., and there
married Mary Shipman, dying there on the 15th of April,
1799. Of the mother of our subject the maiden name was
Abby Dwight Partridge, and the birthplace was Hatfield,
Mass. She was the daughter of a distinguished clergyman
and descended through both parents from the best New
England and old England stock. A son of the Samuel
Ward referred to was named Silas Ward, who was born in
Morris county, N. J., in 1767, and Avho died at an extremely
advanced age in 1862. He was the grandfather of Samuel
Baldwin Ward ; and his wife, Phoebe Dod, a representative
of a New Jersey family of distinguished literary and scien-
tific attainments, was the grandmother of the Albany phy-
sician whom this sketch is taking into account. From the
sturdiness and the culture of the persons thus indicated the
character of the immediate progenitors of our subject can be
inferred. His father was named Lebbeus Baldwin Ward,
son of the Silas Ward already named, and he was born on
the 7th of April, i8oi, and died in the city of New York on

470

Noted Living Albanians.

the 15th of June, 1885. Dr. Ward, of Albany, is thus united
with the best middle state revolutionary stock on his father’s
side, and with the best Puritan Pilgrim blood that ran in the
veins of his saintly mother. The father, Lebbeus Baldwin
Ward, was a man of capacious mind, studious habits, trust-
worthy judgment and invincible moral principle. To his
large natural abilities were added the ripened fruits of a
practical education to which he made all of his work in this
world a constant contribution. The direction of his apti-
tudes and tastes was mechanical. He won wide reputation
as a builder of engines and afterward as a manufacturer of
heavy wrought iron forgings. He built the Hammersley
Forge Works on the North river at the foot of Fifty-ninth
street in New York, and he was identified with several of the
grand public improvements of the metropolis in the period
of his active career. To a degree he was a man of affairs as
well as a man of achievements, an original member of the
metropolitan board of police, a member of the state assembly
in 1851 and a member of various commissions to whom was
delegated the construction of important city works by the
municipality of New York. L. B. Ward and his two
brothers, John D. and Samuel S., also built the first steam-
boat and the first railroad that ever ran in Canada, the firm
doing business in Montreal from about 1820-1838.

In a practical, cultivated and thoroughly American home,
amid all the protections of love and surrounded by all the
incentives of high example and true counsel, the boyhood
of Samuel Baldwin Ward was passed. To private schools
was due the first instruction which he received supplemen-
tary to that of the household. So evenly sustained and so
uniformly rapid was his progress in the acquisition of knowl-
edge that he entered the freshman class of Columbia college

Samuel B. Ward.

471

at the age of fifteen. He there took the full four years’
course and proved himself a good fellow as well as a good
student. He was graduated in the class of 1861, with the
third honors and his popularity among the alumni of the
institution has been as marked as his intelligent promotion
of the interests and the honor of his alma mater.

Even before his graduation he was fortunate in finding
out what he wanted to be and in determining to become it.
He had resolved to devote his life to the study and practice
of medicine and surgery. Circumstances favored this resolu-
tion. One of the staunchest friends of his family was the
celebrated Dr. Willard Parker. The latter became our
subject’s preceptor in medicine and from his office young
Ward was entered as a student in the College of Physicians
and Surgeons in New York, the lecture courses of which he
attended in 1861 and 1862. Those times were the makers
of men and the creators of opportunity. The patriotism
and ambition of every class of minds, the professional in-
cluded, were profoundly appealed to. The young student
coveted a chance to unite service for his country with the
acquisition of his profession. The chance came. In the
second year of the war he entered the United States service
as a medical cadet and was enabled to carry on a course of
invaluable clinical instruction, under circumstances which
rendered his abilities and his activity helpful to the cause of
Union and of freedom and to the needs and injuries of its
defenders on the field of battle. The opportunity also con-
curred with one to study the operation of large military and
civic forces, the procedure of a great government at its high-
est tension of energy and the methods and the policies of
warriors, statesmen and philanthropists in a supreme
emergency of liberty and nationality. The crystallizing

472

Noted Living Albanians.

effect of all this upon the career and character of our subject
cannot be overestimated. He learned obedience and he
learned to command. Self-reliance and co-operation were
alike enforced upon him. The reality of patriotism and the
worth of the results of the war were revealed to him, with a
vision of the equal sincerity and valor of both sides in a
struggle which set forth qualities that have become not
merely the bulwark of the Union against internal dissension
and external aggression but an invaluable asset in the com-
mon fame of collective America.

Technical tuition divided his time with this heroic form,
of practical instruction. All the while he was entered as a
student in the medical department of the Georgetown uni-
versity, an institution not remote from his field of official
duty, and from that school he received his medical diploma
in 1864, although a year previous he had received a contract
as an acting assistant surgeon of the United States army
and following his graduation he was commissioned by Abra-
ham Lincoln as an assistant surgeon of the United States
volunteers. At this point the distinctly medical career of
our subject may be said to have begun. He retired from
the military establishment of the Union with the close of
the war in 1865, returned to New York in October of that
year, and embarked for Europe for still further medical study,
which he pursued for a period of over twelve months.
Coming back, Dr. Ward began the private practice of his
profession in the city of his birth. He was soon chosen a
professor of anatomy and afterward of surgery in the Wo-
man’s Medical college of the New York Infirmary. For six
years he labored actively as a practitioner and instructor in
New York. He was effectively connected with the medical
charities of the city. He was attending surgeon of the

Samuel B. Ward.

473

Northern dispensary, as well as consulting surgeon of the
Western dispensary for women and children and visiting
surgeon to the Presbyterian hospital. In 1872 he was elec-
ted assistant surgeon of the New York Seventh regiment of
the national guard of the state, with the rank of captain,
and filled the post until he reached the resolution to settle
in the capital of the state.

That resolution was effected in May, 1876. He took at
once an influential position in the ranks of his profession
and in the social life at Albany. Almost directly following
his arrival he was chosen professor of surgical pathology and
operative surgery in the Albany Medical college. He also
became one of the attending surgeons to the Albany City
hospital and to St. Peter’s hospital, and he is now professor
of the theory and practice of medicine in the Albany
Medical college ; a member of the Albany County Medical
society; a permanent member and ex-president of the State
Medical society ; a member of the executive committee of
the State Normal college ; a trustee and the vice-president
of the Dudley observatory; a trustee of the Albany Female
academy; the president of the state board of survey; as
well as having been in the past a member of the board of
health of the city ; one of the civil service examiners for state
medical officials, and repeatedly a delegate to the American
Medical association. He is a member of the Fort Orange club,
of the Albany Camera club, being himself a‘n accomplished
amateur artist, and he is also connected with the American
Climatological association, as well as of other scientific and
social bodies not a few. In 1864, he received the degree of
A. M. in course from Columbia college, and in 1882, that of
Ph. D. ex honor e, from Union university.

From these honors and responsibilities his activity and
60

474

Noted Living Albanians.

efficiency in his profession and his devotion to all cognate
pursuits in sympathy with his chosen field, as well as his
standing as a citizen and a gentleman, can be correctly in-
ferred. He has contributed valuable articles to the litera-
ture of his profession and his pen and influence have been
at the service of any interest, within his power to promote,
within the large compass of the departments of helpful
endeavor in the world. Dr. Ward is well known for his
service in the development of the sanitary advantages of the
Adirondack regions to the observation of mankind. In
1879 ^^*st visited that wonderful region and it has echoed

to his rifle, or its waters have rewarded his rod every spring
and summer since. His investments in the Saranac Lake
country have been considerable and his influence in induc-
ing capitalists, physicians, artists and lovers of leisure to
acquaint themselves with the natural beauties and the
health-giving assurances of that locality has been marked.
Both as a citizen and as an officer of the state he has
addressed himself to the work of forest preservation and to
the creation and the education of a public and a legislative
sentiment in favor of that benign cause. His energy and
efficiency in this regard have been reinforced by like en-
deavors put forth by many others, but none of them have
exceeded his enthusiasm or surpassed his usefulness in that
field of labor for the health of the race. He allows neither
his labors for education nor his social duties nor the accom-
plishments with which he charms his times .of leisure or of
rest to interfere with the assiduity and industry with which
he carries on the duties of his chosen profession. He is not
merely a practitioner of medicine but a soldier and enthu-
siast of it. His fondness for his calling was born with him.
Every other pursuit followed by him is ultimately made

Samuel B. Ward.

475

contributory to the controlling work of his life. He has
not lost a central and a consecrated efficiency in a diversity
of alien avocations or in a versatility of pleasurable employ-
ments.

Of the characteristics of this man it would be agreeable
to speak, did not the facts already set forth suggest them,
and did not his present activity in the prime of his powers
veto the idea of summing up an esteemed contemporary for
the verdict of that history in which his part is yet incom-
plete, and into the silences of which he has not yet passed.
The words of estimate would by the partialities of friend-
ship become the words of eulogy and they are not called
for on the printed page, because they are already graven in
the hearts and memories of all who have passed within the
sweep of his life and who have been admitted into the
chambers of his friendship.

In 1871 Dr. Ward was united in marriage to Nina A.
Wheeler, daughter of William A. Wheeler, of New York
city. Mrs. Ward was a woman of singular beauty of person,
of gentle sincerity of manner, of a wide range of practical
and elegant accomplishments, a devoted wife, a loving
mother, a profound Christian and an undoubting friend.
She was the light, the solace, the incentive and the idol of
a beloved home, not merely the companion but the con-
fidant of her husband and of their children, until, in
October, 1883, she was recalled by the Master of Life,
exchanging worlds with the serene confidence of a blessed
immortality. Three children share with their father the
consciousness of their loss, until the day shall break and the
shadows flee away.

ALBERT BARNES WATKINS.

IN THE broad and varied interests of education, and as
possessing intellectual powers admirably fitted for the
practical application of knowledge to the wants of our young
men and women engaged in the courses of study, no man
in Albany has earned a more excellent reputation than
Dr. Albert B. Watkins, of the University of the state of New
York. His career, marked by a supreme love for knowledge,
reveals in full light the earnest, persevering and successful
workings of the true educator under many pressing difficulties.

He was born on the 8th of July, 1838, in the beautiful
village of Naples, N. Y., situated in the deep valley which
extends southward from the head of Canandaigua lake,
around which the charms of nature are so richly displayed,
and where general intelligence, industry and thrift are pre-
vailing characteristics.

He is a descendant of Thomas Watkins, who was a
resident of Boston, Mass., in 1650, and who probably
came from Wales to Boston about the year 1635. He
was made a freeman at Boston in i66o, and was a mem-
ber of the artillery company there in 1666. The name of
Watkins is of Welsh origin, and this branch of the family
of which we write probably came from either Brecon or
Montgomery, Wales.

Albert B. Watkins.

477

Nathan Watkins, the great-grandfather of the subject of
our memoir, was one of the earliest settlers of Peru, Berk-
shire county, Mass. He was a man of remarkable courage
as well as of strong religious convictions, who held several
offices of trust in his new wilderness home, and in whose
barn the religious meetings of the early settlers of the
place were held in the year 1773. The first town meeting
at Peru was held in the Captain’s house, in 1769, and he
was elected supervisor of the town. He was not only a
God-fearing, but also a liberty-loving man, and when the
storm of the revolution was about to burst over the colo-
nies he was ready to shoulder his musket or draw his sword
in defense of American freedom.

No sooner had the stirring news of the battle of Lex-
ington alarmed and aroused the country than we find the
name of Capt. Watkins on the earliest roll of minute-men in
Col. Patterson’s regiment. He fought in the battle of
Bunker Hill, and after the evacuation of Boston by the
British, in 1776, he marched to New York to join the expe-
dition to Quebec. After engaging in fortifying Ticonderoga
he marched through Albany to join the army of Gen.
Washington in Pennsylvania. While in the vicinity of
Ticonderoga he and his son Mark, a drummer boy of four-
teen enlisted in the regiment, were both taken prisoners in
one of the skirmishes with Burgoyne. The British general,
happening to see the lad, asked him what he was there for.
Said Mark, ‘‘ I came put to see my father.” “ Very well,
very well,” quickly replied Burgoyne, in a good-natured
way, ‘ I will send you home as a present to your mother.”

Capt. Watkins was one of those brave soldiers who, under
Washington, crossed the Delaware, and took part in the bat-
tles of Trenton and Princeton. Afterward his regiment was

478

Noted Living Albanians.

ordered northward to aid Gens. Schuyler and Gates, and
side by side with the grandfather of the writer of this sketch,
he faced the leaden storm in the battle of Bemus Heights,
and was present when Burgoyne surrendered his arms amidst
shouts ringing through the American camp.

At the close of the war Capt. Watkins was one of a com-
mittee of three sent by some of the scattering inhabitants
of Berkshire county to western New York to purchase a
tract of land for future settlement. The land purchased is
now known as the township of Naples ; and here, in 1791,
Capt. Watkins removed with his family and numbers of his
relatives and neighbors, and went to work clearing up the
old forests and cultivating the rich soil. He was thus a
genuine pioneer as well as an intrepid soldier, and when at
last he passed away, full of years and honors, his remains
were laid in the old church yard at Naples, where they still
repose beneath a simple marble slab.

Stephen Mellen Watkins, the father of Dr. Watkins, had
very limited financial means, and from the age of sixteen
the boy had to earn the money that he spent. His early
tastes inclined him to study, and his parents tried by all
possible means to gratify his wishes. Ambitious to see him
get a superior education, they gave him advice and encour-
agement. But his prospects of obtaining a collegiate edu-
cation were for a long time gloomy enough to discourage a
less hopeful and a less enterprising lad. He worked on the
farm all through the spring, summer and autumn months,
and attended the district school in the winter. Thus learn-
ing the rudiments of education he was eager to continue his
studies, and we next find him a pupil of William H. Vro-
man, a graduate of Hobart college, who kept a private
school at Naples. This only increased his thirst for higher

Albert B. Watkins.

479

instruction, and he was soon afterward placed under the
care of Levi G. Thrall, an experienced and highly success-
ful teacher. Under this new preceptor he commenced the
study of Latin — the study and mastery of which we believe
are the principal sources of success of the great majority of
those who have rendered distinguished services in the cause
of education and thorough instruction. At the same time,
on account of pecuniary obstacles, he had no idea of ever
entering the halls of a college. But the way was gradually
opened, and his early school days’ experience should afford
encouragement to all who are struggling along in the same
pathway, by showing them what may be accomplished by
industry and perseverance.

In the winter of 1854-5 he attended the Franklin academy
at Prattsburg, Steuben county, in which Charles L. Porter
was principal and Ralph L. Parsons taught the classics, both
of whom were graduates of Amherst college. Returning
home in the following spring he worked on a farm by the
month during the summer. In the winter of 1855-6 we find
him a student in Fairfield academy, Herkimer county, N.
Y., applying himself very closely to the study of mathe-
matics, including trigonometry and surveying, his favorite
branch of study at that timiC. Again in the following sum-
mer he worked on the farm, returning to Fairfield in the
autumn of the same year to take the commercial course,
with a view of qualifying himself for a practical book-keeper.
Completing the course in the spring of 1857 and finding no
opening as a book-keeper, he returned once more to farming.
But his experience as a teacher was now about to begin.
On the illness and final resignation of the teacher at Fair-
field in charge of the commercial ’course he accepted an in-
vitation to take his place in the school. The duties of this

480

Noted Living Albanians.

position he filled with great credit, while he also found some
time to devote to other studies. Remaining at Fairfield he
determined to prepare himself for a civil engineer, and con-
sequently gave the most of the time at his command to the
study of mathematics and French, still continuing his study
of Latin. It was his good fortune, while at Fairfield, to en-
joy the instruction of Dr. Le Roy C. Cooley, now professor
of natural science in Vassar college, whose thorough instruc-
tion, concise and direct methods of teaching, have always
been of great benefit to his pupils. On the advice of Rev.
John B. Van Petten, then principal of the academy, Mr.
Watkins commenced the study of Greek with a view of pre-
paring himself more fully for college, and in 1861 he entered
the junior class at Amherst college, where he graduated
with honor in 1863. It was the privilege of the writer to
attend those commencement exercises at Amherst, and dis-
tinctly does he remember — though nearly twenty-seven
years ago — how well young Watkins acquitted himself on
the platform. The subject was, The Goal of the Nations,”
and his oration was an earnest plea for a higher moral and
intellectual standard among the nations of the earth. The
commencement, taking place so soon after the capture of
Vicksburg and the victory at Gettysburg, was truly a mem-
orable one. Stirring and appropriate addresses were made
by the venerable Dr. Stearns, president of the college, John
Quincy Adams, Jr., and the patriotic and eloquent Gov.
Andrew, whose happy allusion to the two conquering heroes
as “ the Grant of victory and the Meade of praise,” thrilled
the large assembly. We shall always remember with pleas-
ure that commencement day of “ clouds and showers ”
passed at old Amherst.

Soon after graduation, Mr. Watkins accepted a position

Albert B. Watkins.

481

as teacher of Greek in the Fairfield academy. While thus
engaged in teaching, another subject was occupying his
thoughts and engaging his affections, and that was the ques-
tion of matrimony which he was not long in settling. In
November, 1863, he married Miss Martha A. Mather, a
daughter of Dr. William Mather of Fairfield, for many years
professor of chemistry and geology in Madison university,
and a lineal descendant of Richard Mather who came to
Boston in 1635.

In 1867 Mr. Watkins was asked to organize Dr. Hero’s
Willow Park seminary for young ladies at Westboro, Mass.,
and taught there for one year, when upon an urgent call to
go back to Fairfield he returned there in 1868, to take the
position of vice-principal, and to teach Greek and higher
mathematics. In 1870 he took charge of the Hungerford
Collegiate institute at Adams, N. Y., where he acted as
principal for twelve years, managing the school upon an en-
tirely new basis. He was appointed by the University con-
vocation as one of a committee of fifteen to secure legisla-
tion for a larger appropriation for the academies. The
efforts of the committee and other friends of the academies
resulted in securing an additional appropriation of $125,000.

In 1874 Mr. Watkins was given the degree of doctor of
philosophy by the regents of the university. In 1878 he
was elected school commissioner in the First district of Jeffer-
son county, and was re-elected in 1881. In July, 1882, he was
appointed by the regents State inspector of teachers’ classes,
under a statute passed in the previous month, and for more
than two years he labored assiduously in reorganizing these
classes. Upon the death of Dr. Pratt, assistant secretary of
the regents of the University, in 1884, he was asked to take
the position of assistant secretary — a position which he has
61

4^2

Noted Living Albanians.

ably filled. He was president of the State Teachers’ asso-
ciation in 1882, and was treasurer of the State Commission-
ers’ association in 1879, vice-president in 1882.

Dr. Watkins has written for the University convocation,
papers upon The State and Higher Education,” and “ The
Teaching of Literature in Secondary Schools ; ” for the Re-
gents’ Historical and Statistical Record, a History of
Teachers’ Classes,” and various reports and papers for the
State Commissioners’ association and for the State Teachers’
association.

Dr. Watkins is still actively engaged in a noble work — the
crowning glory of his studious and successful career — in ad-
vancing the cause of higher education among our people ;
and his earnest and constant efforts in this department of
labor are receiving the warmest commendation of the most
intelligent citizens of the Empire state.

EDWARD WEMPLE.

Among those who have graced the annals of our state
in the wide, active and interesting fields of political
service is the present efficient comptroller, Hon. Edward
Wemple. He comes from an ancestry noted for their sturdy
characteristics, their devotion to principle, and their love of
liberty. Away back in the history of Holland his forefathers
lived and labored for the best interests of their country and
humanity. But their enterprise was not confined to their
own land. They sought other and wider regions for the
advancement of the cause of civilization and human progress.
Large numbers of them sought out this goodly land of ours,
where they found ample room to develop material resources,
where they went to work with strong hands and brave hearts
to subdue the vast, old forests, to establish comfortable homes
and to aid in the erection of a citadel of freedom as endur-
ing as the everlasting hills. Nowhere is this more manifest
in the rural portions of our country than in the Mohawk
valley — the civilization, wealth and resources of which have
been the result of their early, honest, manly efforts. And it
may be remarked that the old Hollanders were the first to
establish free schools in our land, and to introduce the noble
sentiment that all men are born with free and equal rights.
By reference to the genealogical records of the Wemples,

484

Noted Living Albanians.

it can be thus plainly seen that from the earliest periods in
the settlement of this region of country, they have been iden-
tified with the interests of the Empire state, and have always
been familiar with its wants, its resources and its people in
every condition.

In the year 1712 a Johannes Wemple, an ancestor of the
comptroller, was one of the company to whom Queen Anne
granted the Caughnawaga patent, which included grants of
lands in the Mohawk valley. Other Wemples came from
their old homes in Holland and settled in this new region.
Inspired with the principles of civil and religious liberty they
built school-houses and planted churches here, and caused
the waste and desolate places to bloom like a garden ail
along the now rich valley of the Mohawk . More than a cen-
tury ago a Mr. Wemple was one of the founders of the old
Dutch church at Fonda, which stood among the earliest
landmarks of religious devotion in this country. This an-
cient church was taken down a few years ago.

The Wemples were noted for their patriotism here. Dur-
ing the old French and English wars they bravely defended
their homes against the invaders, and when the storm of the
revolution broke with all its violence over our shores they
heartily espoused the cause of the struggling colonists. And
no one rejoiced more truly than did the Wemples of those
revolutionary days, who were living in the Mohawk valley,
when they at length saw the sunshine of liberty gleaming
through clouds and darkness, and the star spangled banner
of Washington and Adams and Jefferson unfurled over this
new and rising republic.

On the 23d of October, 1843, Edward Wemple, the subject
of our memoir, first saw the light of day, in the old family
mansion at Fultonville, N. Y. At the common school of his

Edward Wemple. 485

native village he was taught the rudiments of his earliest
education, and was afterward a student of the Ashland acad-
emy in Greene county, and of the Schenectady Union school,
where he was prepared for a collegiate course. He learned
readily and was a diligent student ; hence he was ready for
college at an earlier age than most other boys. Entering
Union college, then in a flourishing condition, he was grad-
uated there in 1866, at the age of twenty- three. He was not
long in deciding upon the choice of a profession, for during
his college course the study of political and legal science
seems to have possessed special charms for him. On leav-
ing college he entered on the study of the law in the office
of W. L. Van Denberg.

Mr. Wemple’s father was at that time largely engaged in
the foundry business at Fultonville, and needed the assist-
ance of an active, educated young man to assist him in
carrying on the management of the concern, and so he per-
suaded his son Edward to relinquish his legal studies and
enter into partnership with him. It just suited the active
temperament of our young law student, and was an agreeable
change from the close sedentary habits of professional life.
He soon acquired a thorough, practical knowledge of the
foundry business, and on the death of his father in 1869 he
continued it with increasing success down to the present.
At the same time he was diligently employing his leisure
moments in the study of political and state affairs, in which
he was to become so prominent, exhibiting those qualifica-
tions which belong to the right man in the right place.

Mr. Wemple entered political life as an ardent young ad-
vocate of the principles of the democratic party, to which he
has always adhered with an uncompromising spirit. He had
scarcely reached the age of thirty before he was chosen

486

Noted Living Albanians.

president of the village of Fultonville, in 1873, and from
that period we may date the beginning of his useful, active
and honorable career as a popular political leader. He
next filled the office of supervisor of his native town, in the
prosperity of which he has always taken a lively interest.
This position he held during the years of 1874, ’75 and ’76.
In 1876 he was elected as a democrat, to the legislature,
over David W. Shurter (rep.) and N. T. De Graff (pro.) and
served acceptably on the committees of railroads, villages,
and the library. He was re-elected to the legislature in
1877. Increasing in popularity, his party nominated him
four years after the close of his legislative term in 1882, for
member of congress from the Twentieth district, and though
the district was a strong republican one he was triumphantly
elected over Hon. George West, of Ballston, the republican
candidate.

His congressional record formed a bright page in his his-
tory, and demonstrated his capacity as a practical man,
whose highest aim is not to serve party alone, but the coun-
try at large. He served with credit on the committee of
public buildings and grounds, and also on that of railroads
and canals. He advocated the measures for securing better
mail facilities, and took a leading part in the welfare of the
veterans of the Union army, pushing forward a prompt set-
tlement of their just claims. He also presented the measure
of giving the president the power to veto separate objection-
able items in appropriation bills, without killing the whole
bill. The justice of this congressional act must be apparent
to all classes, irrespective of party. But one of the grandest
measures for which Mr. Wemple contended till it was suc-
cessfully accomplished, was the securing of an appropriation
to erect a noble monument at Schuylerville to commemorate

Edward Wemple.

487

the glorious and decisive victory over the British on the
ever-memorable field of Saratoga. All patriotic citizens will
ever join in honoring him for his works and labors of love in
a cause so worthy and just. He never relaxed his efforts in
the support of so grand and patriotic a measure ; and all
through his congressional labors in this line, in his eagerness to
see a magnificent shaft rise high in“ massive solidity and una-
dorned grandeur,” he seems to have been inspired with the
noble sentiment of Daniel Webster in his speech on the laying
of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill monument: “ Let it rise!
Let it rise till it meet the sun in his coming ; let the earliest
light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play
on its summit.”

Mr. Wemple has always been a strong friend to the Erie
canal, and while in congress he earnestly contended that the
federal government should do its duty and provide for the
maintenance and repair of the main structures of the free
artificial water-ways of this state, which form an indispensable
link in the chain of navigation from the great west to tide
water, just as it provides for the maintenance and repair of
far less important free natural water-ways in all sections of
the country ; and that without affecting in the least the juris-
diction of the state. This measure seems to be eminently
just and proper, while it recognizes and honors the import-
ance of the canal system as an indispensable factor in the
great commercial interests of our state.

Retiring from his congressional life with well-earned lau-
rels, Mr. Wemple sought the quietude of his beautiful home
at Fultonville, among the friends of his youthful days, and
in the enjoyment of domestic scenes. But he was not long
to remain in the walks of private life. In 1883 was elected
to the state senate from the Eighteenth district, composed

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of the counties of Saratoga, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery
and Schenectady. His opponent was the Hon. Austin A.
Yates, and the contest was carried on with great determina-
tion on both sides. Mr. Wemple won by a majority of thirty,
and it was a striking instance of his remarkable popularity
among his friends and neighbors that he should thus succeed
in so strong a republican district, and with so powerful an
adversary as Judge Yates. As a state senator Mr. Wemple
added additional lustre to his already well-established repu-
tation as an able, upright and patriotic citizen. He took an
active part in the leading measures which came before that
body, and while he always endeavored to sustain the honor
of his party, he at the same time sought to advance the high-
est interests of the commonwealth.

In the fall of 1887 Mr. Wemple was nominated for state
comptroller, and after a spirited contest was elected by a
plurality of 15,374 over Jesse L’Amoreaux of Ballston, the
republican nominee, receiving the highest vote of any can-
didate on the state ticket. Entering upon the duties of his
new and highly-responsible position on the 1st of January,
1888, he has conducted its affairs with discretion and ability,
faithfully watching over the large interests of the Empire
state which are committed to him. He appointed Judge
Z. S. Westbrook, of Am.sterdam, his deputy, and the office
work goes on with the utmost regularity and promptness.
On the 1st of October, 1889, Mr. Wemple was unanimously
renominated for comptroller, and after a hard-fought cam-
paign, he was elected by a plurality of 11,190 over Martin
W. Cooke. And it may be truly said, in the face of all par-
tisan opposition, that he has been one of the most capable,
far-seeing and popular comptrollers the state of New York
ever had.

Edward Wemple.

489

The grand secret of Mr. Wemple’s success as a politician
lies in his general intelligence, his fine executive abilities, and
his strict integrity as a public officer. He is regarded by his
party as a man true to his political principles, strong in his
convictions of duty, a champion in his chosen field, an able
exponent of the old Jeffersonian doctrines. As a man he is
plain in his manners, affable and easily approachable, a genial
companion, and highly popular with those who know him
best. He has already made a record of which any Ameri-
can may well be proud ; and now in the very prime of life he
may look forward to the possibilities of the future with no
dimmed prospects — with no misgiving heart, with no falter-
ing hands.

ZERAH S. WESTBROOK.

Hon. Zera S. Westbrook, the present deputy comp-
troller of the state of New York, has an interesting
and instructive history. As a state official he is at this time
a temporary resident of Albany, his residence and home be-
ing at Amsterdam, N. Y. His career is one which illustrates
in a striking manner, the rise, progress and development of
a character such as only can be found in a land of free
institutions, without the aid of the wealthy, titled, so-called
nobility. As will be seen in a brief review of his life, he
has already exhibited those qualities which belong to true
manhood.

Born at Montague, Sussex county, N. J., on the 7th
of April, 1845, spent his youthful days on a farm. His
father, Severyne L. Westbrook, tilled a farm at that place.
Zerah was a bright, delicate child and the delight of his
parents. But he had scarcely reached the age of four years
before the grave closed over his father, a useful and respected
citizen ; and his mother was called upon to make renewed
struggles in his behalf during the opening years of his life.
His mother was Susan E., daughter of James B. Armstrong
of Montague, one of the prominent citizens of Sussex county.
She was an intelligent and very pious woman, and died on
November 22, 1889, in the seventy-seventh year of her age.

Zerah S. Westbrook.

491

beloved and respected by a large circle of relatives and friends.
As soon as he was old enough he was sent to the district
school ; but as he grew up he was obliged to work on a farm
in order to earn his bread and butter. He was a hard work-
ing lad but a successful young bread-winner. At the same
time he was a studious youth, and before he was seventeen
years of age he devoted what little time he could spare from
manual labor to his school books. Thus inured to hard,
honest toil, he has never been ashamed of work, and it is no
wonder that to-day, with his early trying experience, he is
the true, fast friend of workingmen. In 1862, at the age of
seventeen, we find him working by the month on the farm
of the Hon. Isaac Bonnell of Montague.

This was a stirring and critical period in the history of our
country; the storm of civil war had burst over the land, and
thousands of patriots were enlisting in the military service,
and hastening to those fields of carnage, where.

The bayonet pierces, and the sabre cleaves,

And human lives are lavished everywhere,

As the year closing whirls the scarlet leaves,

When the stript forest bows to the bleak air,

And groans.”

Westbrook, young as he was, could not resist the call of his
country to arms ; and leaving the farm of Mr. Bonnell, he
hastened to enlist as a private in Co. “ I ” of the Fifteenth
New Jersey volunteer infantry, under the gallant Maj.-Gen.
Phil. Kearney, with whom he served in the army of the
Potomac in the famous First New Jersey Brigade — a brigade
which rendered such glorious services in behalf of an imper-
illed government.

On his honorable discharge from Kearney’s New Jersey
brigade, our young soldier came home and quietly resumed

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Noted Living Albanians.

his work on the farm. Determined to continue his studies
he spent one year at the Deckertown academy and then en-
tered the Connecticut Literary Institution at Suffield, where
he graduated in 1866. He was now ready to choose a pro-
fession, having no means to pursue a college course, and in
looking over the whole field of work he was not long in se-
lecting that of the law. With the same energy and decision
of character that had marked his earlier history, he came to
Albany and entered the law school here. Enjoying the
able instruction of its learned professors, he made rapid pro-
gress in his legal studies and was graduated in 1867, when he
was at once admitted to the bar by the general term then
sitting in Albany. He first settled at Northampton, Fulton
county, N. Y., and during his four years’ stay there he se-
cured a good law practice in the counties of Fulton, Hamil-
ton and Saratoga. It was the sterling qualities of the young
lawyer, his excellent judgment, his sound advice, his devo-
tion to his profession, that crowned his labors at Northamp-
ton with success and made him so popular.

While living at Northampton he married Miss Matilda F.,
daughter of the late Fay Smith, a merchant of that town,
and settled down happily in domestic life.

In seeking a still wider field for the practice of his pro-
fession, Mr. Westbrook removed to Amsterdam, Montgom-
ery county, in the spring of 1871, where he was not long in
establishing a large clientage, which he still retains.

Soon after he was old enough to vote, Mr. Westbrook es-
poused the cause of democracy, of which he is to-day a
“ bright and shining light.” So popular was he, without re-
gard to party affiliations, that in 1873, after a two years’
residence at Amsterdam, he was elected president of the vil-
lage by a majority of 126 over E. D. Bronson, a wealthy

Zerah S. Westbrook.

493

and well-known manufacturer of the place. And the
manner in which he administered the affairs of the village
was so generally approved that the next year he was chosen
president without opposition. But higher honors were
awaiting him. In bringing before the people a strong can-
didate for county judge, the democrats of Montgomery
county said with one accord let us nominate young West-
brook, whose professional abilities were then so widely rec-
ognized, as well as his high character as a citizen. He re-
ceived the nomination in 1877, heartily endorsed

by many outside his own party lines ; and when the votes
for county judge were counted it was found that Mr. West-
brook had a majority of 1,319 over Hon. S. P. Heath, the
republican incumbent. Judge Westbrook filled the office of
county judge with great satisfaction to the public during six
years, and when his term was about to expire he was re-
nominated in 1883, and re-elected by the magnificent ma-
jority of 2,221 over Charles P. Winegar, the republican can-
didate.

It may truly be said that he made an excellent record as
a fair-minded, impartial judge ; and though his rulings were
sometimes displeasing to defeated counsel and suitors, yet
when such cases were carried to higher courts his decisions
were invariably sustained.

After a constant and faithful service of ten years on the
bench. Judge Westbrook resigned his office on the ist of
January, 1888, to assume his present duties as deputy comp-
troller of the state, for the discharge of which he is admir-
ably qualified. When Hon. Edward Wemple, the popular
and judicious comptroller, entered upon his new duties on
January i, 1888, he believed that if he could secure the ser-
vices of his friend Judge Westbrook as deputy he would have

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Noted Living Albanians.

the right man in the right place, and accordingly the judge
received and accepted the appointment. And it may be truly
said that to his executive ability, sound judgment, and large
knowledge of constitutional and statute law is ,due in no
small degree the orderly and efficient dispatch of business in
the office of the comptroller.

As a still further manifestation of the popular regard to-
ward Judge Westbrook he was unanimously nominated by
the democrats on September 25th, 1888, as representative in
congress for the Twentieth congressional district, and the
large vote that he received on election day was in keeping
with his past record, evincing the high regard in which he is
held by men of all political parties. The district is strongly
republican but Judge Westbrook was so popular with the
people and made such an energetic canvass, that he led the
democratic national and state tickets nearly one thousand,
and received a total of 20,665 votes, being the largest vote
ever polled for a democrat in the district.

Judge Westbrook is a true friend of the farmers and the
mechanics, and of all classes of workingmen, and with such
he is deservedly popular. He believes in the dignity and
nobility of labor, but is no admirer of wealthy, grasping
monopolists, that seek to obtain undue advantage of, or op-
press the people.

His past career furnishes an example worthy of imitation
by the aspiring young men of our land. Deprived at the
age of four years of the tender and watchful care of a father,
and thrown upon his own resources, in his boyhood days he
labored with his young hands on a farm, studied all he
could, engaged in the military service of his country, studied
law, became a judge and a deputy comptroller of the empire
state before he had scarcely reached the meridian of life.

Zerah S. Westbrook.

495

Plain and unassuming in his manners, sincere and strong in
his friendships, high and honorable in the aims of his life,
he has already drawn around him hosts of friends whom he
holds with a cord that Js not easily broken/’ who are now
actively engaged in looking after his political interests, and
who would rejoice in seeing him “ go up higher,’'

DIEDRICH WILLERS, JR

A PERSON AGE, who, by reason of his official relations
at our state capitol has from time to time been an
official resident of Albany, is the Hon. Diedrich Willers, Jr.
Born on the 3d of November, 1833, the town of Varick,
Seneca county, N. Y., he passed his youthful days amidst
the rural scenes of his birthplace under the careful guidance
and instruction of excellent parents. His parentage was of
German origin. His father, the Rev. Diedrich Willers, D. D.,
was a native of Bremen, Germany, and was educated at the
public schools of that city. It was a period of stirring scenes
in the annals of the old world. In the early part of this cen-
tury the thunders of Napoleon’s cannon were shaking Europe,
and large armies of different nationalities were engaged in
deadly conflict. Inspired by the enthusiasm of those times
Diedrich Willers, Sr., then a youth of sixteen, boldly enlisted
in the army of Hanover in defense of his fatherland against
the invasion of the French. Marching with the allied forces
under Wellington and engaging in various conflicts with the
enemy, he won his greatest military distinction in the mem-
orable and decisive battle of Waterloo in 1815, where, for his
bravery, he received a silver medal. His military career lasted
about five years. On leaving the service he made up his
mind to emigrate to America, and, accordingly, in 1819, he

Diedrich Willers, Jr.

497

left the shores of “ the fatherland,” crossed the Atlantic,
and safely landed at Baltimore, Md. In 1821, he completed
in Pennsylvania his theological studies toward which his
youthful attention had been turned before leaving his native
land. Entering upon his high and sacred mission as a
young man in a strange country, he became an earnest
and powerful preacher of the gospel, officiating to Ger-
man Reformed congregations in Seneca county, N. Y., dur-
ing* a period of over sixty years, commencing with April,
1821. He preached both in the German and English lan-
guages, and his pastoral labors were crowned with success.
He died in 1883, at the advanced age of eighty- five years,
leaving a fragrant memory in the hearts of all who knew
him. He received the degree of D. D., from Franklin and
Marshall college, at Lancaster, Pa.

Intending to have his son, the subject of our present sketch,
follow him in the ministerial calling, the father paid spec-
ial attention to his moral and intellectual training — care-
fully instructing him in the German language and in ancient
classical literature. But the studies of the young man were
considerably interrupted. To earn some money to carry on
his education he was obliged to work upon a farm during
the summer months, while he attended the district school in
the winter. He also attended two terms at the Seneca Falls
academy, and at the early age of sixteen, he began to teach
school in his native place at a salary of twelve dollars a
month, paying his own board out of this small sum. He con-
tinued to teach at intervals until he arrived at his majority. He
was indeed a hard-working, industrious, self-made young man.
At the age of twenty-two he entered a printing office with a
view of learning the trade, and preparing himself for a jo.ur-
nalistic career. He was a frequent contributor of political
63

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Noted Living Albanians.

articles for the newspapers, but the close confinement of a
compositor’s life in a local printing establishment did not
agree with his health, not then very robust, and he was
obliged to relinquish this kind of work. Looking around for
something more congenial to his tastes, he now turned his
attention to the study of the law, and after reading the prin-
cipal text books on the subject he attended a course of in-
struction at the Albany Law school where after graduating he
was admitted to the bar, but never entered upon the active
duties of the profession. He seemed at last to have adopted
politics as possessing still greater charms for him than the
practice of the law. He early identified himself with the
democratic party, for the success of which he has always since
labored with great earnestness and determination of purpose.
In the exciting presidential campaign of 1856, he supported
James Buchanan, and in the following year he warmly ad-
vocated the election of Gideon J. Tucker for secretary of
this state. After his election Mr. Tucker rewarded the ser-
vices of the young and rising politician by giving him a
clerkship in his office. It was the commencement of his
political career — a career which has been so honorable to
himself and so beneficial to the public service.

He entered upon his duties as clerk in the office of the
secretary of state in January, 1858. And here his high qual-
ifications for the work soon became widely known and greatly
appreciated. In i860 he was reappointed by the succeeding
secretary of state, David R. Floyd Jones, and under
the administration of Horatio Ballard, he was still re-
tained, filling the position with peculiar fitness and fidelity
till the close of 1863, when Horatio Seymour, governor of
the state in 1864, appointed Mr. Willers his private secretary.
This was during the most trying period of the civil war, and

Diedrich Willers, Jr.

499

his duties were very onerous and complicated. But by his
large knowledge of state affairs, the experience he had al-
ready gained in such work, his close and constant attention
to official duty and his urbanity of manners, he soon gained
the warmest friendship of the accomplished “ Sage of Deer-
field,” who commended his services in the highest terms. On
the expiration of Gov. Seymour’s term of office, Mr. Willers
returned to his home at Varick, and spent two or three
years on his farm, invigorating his constitution by out-door
exercise for further hard, mental work in the state depart-
ment. In the meantime (1865) he was chosen supervisor of
his native town of Varick, which office he held during two
terms. As chairman of the board, he rendered valuable
assistance to his town and county, in the adjustment of ac-
counts growing out of the war. The most difficult matters
of this nature were always laid before Mr. Willers, who
straightened them out ivith a masterly hand.

On the election of Homer A. Nelson as secretary of
state in 1867, Mr. Willers was selected as his deputy, and
returning to Albany he entered upon his new duties in Jan-
uary, 1868, occupying this position four years, During all
this time Mr. Willers seems to have grown constantly in the
estimation of the public, by his display of executive ability
and a readiness to successfully grapple with apd solve deep
problems. He was soon to receive higher recognition at the
hands of his party, and when Mr. Nelson retired from the
political field in favor of his deputy, in the fall of 1871, Mr.
Willers was nominated by acclamation for the office of sec-
retary of state, but was defeated with the other candidates
of his party, though at the same time, as an evidence of his
popularity, he received the highest vote given to any Candi-
date on the democratic ticket.

500

Noted Living Albanians.

In 1872, Gov. Hoffman appointed him assistant paymaster-
general with the rank of colonel. He was also detailed for
duty in the executive chamber to examine bills passed by
the legislature, and was thus employed until January, 1873,
when he was chosen one of the secretaries of the constitu-
tional commission then in session at Albany. On the ad-
journment of this body the following March, he again visited
his old and cherished homestead at Varick, spending the
remainder of the year in the cultivation of his lands, and ob-
taining a much needed relief from the pressing duties of
political life.

In the autumn of 1873, Mr. Willers was again nominated
by the democratic convention held at Utica for the office of
secretary of state, and was triumphantly elected by a major-
ity of more than 10,000 over the republican candidate, Hon.
Francis S. Thayer of Troy, one of the most popular republi-
cans of the state. On the occasion of Mr. Willers’ second
nomination at Utica, Gov. Seymour, who knew him so well,
paid him one of the highest compliments ever bestowed upon
a public servant. Rising in the convention he said: ‘‘ Hav-
ing known Mr. Willers for many years, having been closely
associated with him in the discharge of duty, I can say that
in my opinion there is no man in the state whom I could
vote for, for 4:his position, with more pleasure than I can
vote for Diedrich Willers, Jr. He is not only an honorable,
capable and honest man, but a faithful one. During all the
time he was in that office, he was never known to be absent
from his post of duty. For this office you want a man who
will faithfully discharge its duties himself, and Mr. Willers is
the man, of all others, to do this. It is no mere form, when
we take up a man who has performed his duties at the low-
est round of the ladder, and lift him to the highest. It means

Diedrich Willers, Jr. 501

that there is true merit in the man. I have known Mr.
Willers long and well, as I have already said. I knew him
all through the trying time when I was governor, and of all
the men surrounding me and my office, I found no man upon
whom I could rely with more implicit confidence.”

With his many years of experience in the workings of this
office, Secretary Willers found but little trouble in conduct-
ing its affairs most successfully during his term of two years,
during which the state census of 1875 was taken under his
direct supervision. In 1875 he declined a renomination, and
in the following year made a tour in Europe, visiting many
interesting and noted places, and especially his father’s na-
tive city of Bremen, and the battlefield of Waterloo. After
an absence of three months, he returned home and again
went to live on his farm. While thus living quietly among
his old neighbors, he was elected to the legislature in the
fall of 1877, serving for one year in the assembly. He took
a great interest in the centennial celebration of General Sul-
livan’s Indian campaign at Waterloo in 1879, and compiled
and edited a book descriptive of the same in 1880. In 1875
Mr. Willers received the degree of A. M. from Union college,
and subsequently the same degree from Hamilton. The
mother of Secretary Willers was a descendant of a Palatinate
German family, which located at New Holland, Lancaster
county. Pa., where she was born. She died in 1879, aged
eighty-two years. Secretary Willers is unmarried, and at-
tends the Reformed church, to which his father so long min-
istered.

Mr. Willers has performed a great deal of hard brain work

in the service of the state. As a tactician, an analyst, as

throwing light on dark and intricate questions, as bringing

order out of confusion^ his powers have been remarkable as

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Noted Living Albanians.

well as praiseworthy. He has risen to an enviable position
in the broad arena of politics, and the democratic party seem
still to have a claim on his time and talents as it has
found him a most practical, painstaking, upright, faithful and
honorable official in all his connections with the public ser-
vice of the Empire state.

CHAUNCEY P. WILLIAMS.

Among the noted men of Albany Chauncey P. Williams
stands in the front rank as a banker and financier.
He is a native of Connecticut — a state which has furnished
so many of the enterprising pioneers of our own and other
states of the Union. He was born at Upper Middletown
(now Cromwell), Conn., on the 5th of March, 1817, the son
of Josiah and Charity Shaler Williams. His early years were
spent upon his father s farm, where in summer his physical
powers were trained to healthful development by the labors
of the farm, and his winters occupied in mental culture at
the common school. He early developed a taste for math-
ematics and astronomy, and probably would have devoted
his life to those sciences, but for the fact that circumstances
made it imperative that he must earn his own way in the
world. At the age of sixteen he accepted a clerkship with
his brothers, the firm of T. S. Williams & Brothers, then en-
gaged in extensive commercial business at Ithaca, N. Y. He
remained at Ithaca two years, when in 1835 he was transferred
to the Albany house of the same firm, then under the direction
of Josiah B. Williams. In 1839 succeeded to the business
of the Albany house, which, in connection with Henry W.
Sage as his partner, conducting the business of the new firm at
Ithaca and elsewhere, continued through a long term of years.

504

Noted Living Albanians.

Mr. Williams’ ancestry is of Welsh stock. Certain dim
traditions claim for it an origin in common with that of Crom-
well, lord protector of the English commonwealth. He
traces it back only to Thomas Williams, whose first child,
Thomas, was born at Wethersfield, Conn., March 9, 1656.
When the father, Thomas, came to Wethersfield, or from
whence he came, is not known. A search through the accessi-
ble emigrant lists, from 1620 down to 1656, has failed to give
us any information regarding him. If there is any truth in
the traditions above referred to, it is hardly probable that he
or his family, for several generations down from this time,
would have felt proud of the relationship, or have laid claim
to it with much earnestness, considering the fact that the
minions of Charles II could not allow the bones of Cromwell
to rest peacefully in his grave, but dug them up to hang them
on Tyburn gallows ; and three of the judges who condemned
Charles I were hiding incognito in the caves and mountain
fastnesses of New England to escape their vengeance.

Passionately fond of his studies in youth, Mr, Williams has
been a student through life. While his mind and time have
been closely occupied with affairs, his leisure hours have
given him opportunity to pursue a course of study which has
been largely in the line of finance and practical economics.
The statistics of political science, banking and finance, the
currency and related topics, with the general problems of
political economy, have all occupied much of his attention.
Perhaps no man in our city has investigated these subjects
with more careful thought, or more profound research. He
has boldly expressed his views in well-chosen words on the
banking system, the financial situation of our country and on
gold, silver and the coinage of the silver dollar. And though
his statements have met with opposition in some quarters,

Chauncey P. Williams.

505

yet his arguments are well worthy of close attention by those
interested in banking institutions. Mr. Williams early col-
lected the leading English and American publications on
banking and financial matters ; and to the study and analysis
of the various assertions of many different authors in this
line he has devoted a lifetime.

Mr. Williams first visited Albany in 1833, and two years
later he became a permanent resident of our city. His well-
known abilities as a financier were so highly appreciated that
in 1861, at the commencement of the civil war, he was asked
to take charge of the Albany Exchange bank, then greatly
involved in financial difficulties. With such consummate
wisdom, rare ability and strict integrity did he perform his
duties in this capacity, that after conducting its affairs
through the trying period of the civil war, on closing its
corporate existence as a state institution to become a na-
tional bank in 1865, the entire capital was returned to the
shareholders with fifty-four per cent of surplus earnings.

During the civil war Mr. Williams’ bank was made the
agent of the treasury in distributing the loans of the govern-
ment to the people, in which he took great interest. Through
those dark days many men of large financial experience, to
whom the public looked up for advice, wavered and were
led by their fears to avoid United States securities, and to
advise their friends to do likewise. So general became this
apprehension that at one time the notes of our state banks
commanded a premium of one or two per cent in Wall street,
while railroad bonds, like New York Central sixes, which had
usually sold at about 90, readily commanded 118; at the
same time the gold-bearing sixes of the United States sold
at 90. Through these trying days Mr. Williams stood with
calm faith before the public, expressing his unwavering con-
64

5o6

Noted Living Albanians.

fidence in the ultimate issue. With circulars addressed
to the public, and with unhesitating advice to his friends to
invest in the bonds of the government as the best means to
aid both it and themselves, he urged them to consider what
securities would be valuable, if our government were allowed
to perish ? These arguments so far prevailed that, after the
close of the war, an agent of the government asserted that
the community of Albany and its neighborhood were more
generally salted with governmeiit securities than any other
he knew.

The subject of our sketch was exempt by his age from the
draft for military service during the war of the slaveholders’
rebellion. His interest in the struggle would, however, have
led him to volunteer in the service, had he not felt satisfied
that he was accomplishing more toward its favorable issue,
in the position he occupied of strengthening the financial
power of the government, by inducing the people to furnish
the “ sinews of war,” than he could do by active service in
the field. At the invitation of the secretary of war, however,
he did furnish a representative recruit to serve in his stead
in the person of John W. Robe, the present gentlemanly and
efficient agent of the Albany News Company, who did effect-
ive service as a soldier of the Union in the Shenandoah
valley and elsewhere.

Mr. Williams continued as the financial officer of the Na-
tional Albany Exchange bank, first as cashier and later as
president during its entire corporate existence of twenty
years, from 1865 to 1885, when, on closing its affairs, after
regular semi-annual dividends, its whole capital with ninety-
seven per cent of surplus earnings, was restored to its share-
holders. In 1885 the bank was reorganized under the title
of the National Exchange bank of Albany, of which Mr.

Chauncey P. Williams.

50;

Williams was also elected president. But, in 1887, he with-
drew from the responsible charge of the bank to secure more
of calm and leisure. He still has charge of the business of
the Albany Exchange Savings bank, which has been in his
hands for twenty-five years, and also of such few interests
of the expired National Albany Exchange bank as are still
unsettled.

While residing in a city in whose welfare he took so deep
an interest, Mr. Williams never sought political preferment,
but in 1849-50 he was persuaded to accept the nomination
of alderman in his ward: He was elected and served with

great credit to himself and his constituents.

The winter of 1875-6 Mr. Williams spent abroad, visiting
the most interesting and famous places in England, France and
Italy, and storing his mind with a varied knowledge of the
scenery, manners and customs, literary and artistic treasures
of the old world. He also studied with great care the work-
ing of the banking system abroad, the history of commercial
and political science, and the mode of transacting every day
business of life among foreign nations. He returned home
with increased knowledge, but at the same time with a higher
appreciation of his native land and the blessings of its free
institutions.

Mr. Williams was always a true representative of the prin-
ciples of universal freedom. From 1842 to 1857 he was the
repeated candidate of the old liberty party — a party very
unpopular in those times — for congress from 'the Albany
district. He was an intense hater of human slavery in our
country, belonging to that class of abolitionists of which
Gerritt Smith, Alvan Stewart, James G. Birney, Beriah Green,
Seth M. Gates, Joshua Leavitt, Arthur and Lewis Tappan,
John G. Whittier and Charles Sumner were illustrious repre-

5o8 Noted Living Albanians.

sentatives. And the heart of no man in our midst was more
gladdened than was that of Mr. Williams when, in the year
1 863 — forever memorable in American history — the hand of
Abraham Lincoln penned the immortal emancipation proc-
lamation by which the shackles which bound five millions of
slaves were burst asunder, never more to be a blot and curse
upon this free republic. In his opposition to the cruel system
of slavery Mr. Williams was always ready to indorse the sen-
timents of the poet Campbell in his address to Nature as
having produced man as lord of all :

“ Say, was that lordly form inspired by thee,

To wear eternal chains and bow the knee ?

Was man ordained the slave of man to toil.

Yoked with the brutes, and fetter’d to the soil.

Weigh’d in a tyrant’s balance with his gold?

No ! ”

In 1868, Mr. Williams published in a pamphlet form of
forty-six octavo pages, an able “ Review of the Financial
Situation of our Country.” The financial question was then
especially one of absorbing interest to all citizens throughout
the land ; and in this pamphlet he expressed his mature
views of the whole subject, in which the four per cent bond
was proposed. And a task like this, he was, by previous
study and research, admirably qualified to perform in a most
satisfactory manner.

In this pamphlet Mr. Williams opposes as the worst possi-
ble economy, the continuance of an inconvertible legal ten-
der currency ; and of the suicidal policy of entertaining
schemes of partial repudiation, which in seductive form were
then rife — the most formidable of which were a proposal of
Gen John A. Logan in congress to tax the coupons of all
United States bonds two per cent of the principal of the

Chauncey P. Williams.

509

bonds per annum by deducting the tax from the interest as
paid at the treasury — and a proposal offered in the senate
to the holders of the United States bonds to accept a bond
at a lower rate of interest under the threat that the bonds
then held might be paid off in greenbacks. He urges the
course of keeping strictest faith with the public creditor,
even to the length of construing all questions of doubt against
ourselves; as being the true interest of the country, and the
easiest policy for the payment of its great debt. The sub-
sequent twenty years have most fully justified all his advice
then offered.

In 1875 Mr. Williams read a paper before the Albany in-
stitute on “ Money : True or False.” It was full of practical
suggestions, and received general attention. In it he showed
the folly of making any further advance in the issues of in-
convertible paper money, and of the absolute necessity of
returning to a sound specie basis. The inflationists were, of
course, opposed to his views, which, on the other hand, met
with the hearty approval of all broad, far-seeing and thor-
oughly-educated financiers.

Mr. Williams contributed a series of papers to the Albany
Journal, in 1878, on “The Greenback Question,” in which
he arrayed himself boldly against the principles of the green-
back, labor or national party. The state of Ohio had at this
time exhibited a strong leaning toward the greenback, and
a national party favoring the adoption of irredeemable cur-
rency as a permanent money policy, with Peter Cooper as
its candidate for president, was making progress in gaining
the people’s approval. Mr. Williams’ articles exposed, in
irrefutable terms, the absurdity of making a measure of value
and medium of exchange, out of a thing which by universal
acknowledgment possessed no value.

Noted Living Albanians.

510

In 1886 Mr. Williams, continuing his labors on the sub-
ject of the currency, read another valuable paper before the
Albany institute, on the subject of ‘‘ Gold, Silver, and the
Coinage of the Silver Dollar.” This was afterward issued in
a pamphlet form, and very generally commended for the
strong arguments and sound financial views presented in it.

The latest great public effort of Mr. Williams is an ‘‘Address
on the National Banks and State Taxation,” delivered before
the American Bankers’ association at Pittsburg, Pa., on the
13th of October, 1887. In this address, which was published
by the Bankers’ association, he criticises at considerable
length and with great force and comprehensiveness the re-
cent adverse decision of the supreme court of the United
States in exempting the stocks of other corporations from
taxation, when at the same time the shares of the national
banks are taxed, notwithstanding the restriction of congress
limiting the taxation of such shares to a rate not greater
than is imposed upon other moneyed capital. It is an ad-
dress, to say nothing of the principles involved, which ex-
hibits the most careful, profound and exhaustive research,
and establishes the full reputation of its author as an accom-
plished writer on the great banking and financial problems
of the day.

Mr. Williams has made himself conspicuous in opposing
what he regarded as the excessive, unwarrantable and illegal
taxation of the shareholders of banks throughout most of the
United States, and especially of the state of New York. He
has conducted suits on his own individual responsibility,
running through more than twenty years, at an expense of
more than $15,000 to bring the state laws imposing these
excessive taxes to the adjudication of the United States
supreme court.

Chauncey P. Williams.

511

In 1842 Mr, Williams married Miss Martha A. Hough, of
Whitestown, N. Y. He has one son and two daughters liv-
ing. One of his daughters was married some years ago to
Robert C. Pruyn, president of the National Commercial bank
of Albany, and his son, Capt. C. P. Williams, Jr., recently
married Miss Emma McClure, a daughter of the late Arch-
ibald McClure, so prominently identified with the drug
business, and also with many public and philanthropic mat-
ters relating to the welfare of the city of Albany.

FRANCIS H. WOODS

An ALBANIAN whom his fellow-citizens delight to
honor is Francis H. Woods. He was born forty-five
years ago in this city, which has always been his cherished
home. His love for the city and his pride in its history
have often found eloquent expression in him.

Early in the present century his parents emigrated to this
country from Longford county, Ireland — a county which
gave Maria Edgeworth and Oliver Goldsmith to the world,
and which is also notable for being the birthplace of the
progenitors of the Clintons, so illustrious in the history of the
state. No wonder then that he glories in his ancestral land
or that he is in full sympathy with her struggling patriots.

He received his early education at the school of Capt.
Michael O’Sullivan, and subsequently took the English
course in the Albany Boys’ academy, where he won the prin-
cipal’s prize for his essay on ‘‘ Mahomet. ” His favorite
teacher here was Prof. E. P. Waterbury. A beautiful friend-
ship existed between teacher and pupil which only the hand
of death could break.

He soon began to take an active part in the more public
duties of life. His ardent nature loved excitement and
while a delegate from the famous engine company No. ii,
he was, after a contest which is still recalled, elected presi-

Francis H. Woods.

513

dent of the Albany fire department in 1865, and by his pru-
dent management secured the stability of the relief fund —
a fund which is to this day accomplishing great good. A
quarter of a century ago the fire department had a strange
fascination for the young men of the cities. Its perils and
dangers and unselfish labors for the saving of life and prop-
erty of the citizens made the engine-house the natural ren-
dezvous of the spirited young men of the town. It en-
shrined the heroic element of our civic life. Frank Woods
exemplified this spirit in a high degree.

In the meantime he was preparing himself to enter into
other exciting fields of action — those of the law and politics.
In 1865 he was admitted to the bar, having made his pre-
liminary studies in the office of Mr. Warren S. Kelly, and
subsequently going into partnership with ex-Judge James A.
McKown. His popularity so rapidly increased that in 1867
he was elected to the assembly over the Hon. Henry Smith.
Mr. Smith had carried the same district the year before by
seven hundred majority, but was defeated by Mr. Woods,
after an exciting contest, by three hundred votes. Mr. Woods
was a useful and active member of the legislature and served
with much credit on the committee on judiciary. At the
expiration of his term he again devoted himself to his profes-
sional work with marked success. But this success was now
to meet with a temporary obstruction. In 1871 he was seri-
ously injured in a runaway accident, which resulted in a pres-
ent slight lameness. After a long and painful confinement,
while still an invalid, in 1873, he was persuaded to become a
candidate for justice of the justices’ court, to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Dennis B. Gaffney, who, like Mr.
Woods himself, had been a favorite spokesman of his party,
and was elected by fifteen hundred majority. He was again
65 -

Noted Living Albanians.

514

elected for a full term by three thousand majority, and again
for a third term without opposition, five thousand republican
ballots having been cast for him.

In 1878, on the death of Hon. Terrence J. Quinn, Mr.
Woods was induced, against his personal inclinations, to be a
candidate for congress. Hon. John M. Bailey was the repub-
lican nominee, while Henry Hilton, of Guilderland, was the
greenback labor candidate. Mr. Bailey was elected by a
plurality of one hundred and ninety-eight ; Mr. Hilton poll-
ing five thousand votes, four-fifths of which were concededly
democratic. It is a political tradition that certain politicians
proposed to count Mr. Woods in at any cost, but that he in-
dignantly refused to tolerate any such scheme and denounced
it. Regarding this matter the Albany Evening Journal de-
clared that Mr. Woods had borne himself through the can-
vass and through the subsequent doubt ‘‘ in an honorable
and dignified manner, worthy of the good name he bears
and the personal esteem in which he is held ; he comes out
of the contest without dishonor.” And the Albany Argus
remarked that he had proved himself a strong man to the
state and a very honorable and excellent one to the county,
and that he had made himself eligible to even higher marks
of confidence by his party.

After an honorable, painstaking and impartial career, Mr.
Woods retired from the justices’ court in 1883. On this oc-
casion many members of the bar united in presenting him
with an elegant cane and a handsomely engrossed testimonial
in which they state : “ We take pleasure in sayingthat your

influence has been uniformly and constantly exerted to pro-
tect litigants from imposition and to secure them their
rights, and to prevent them from incurring the pains and
expense of hopeless litigation. You have never fostered

Francis H. Woods.

515

strife or contention, but have always, within the limits pre-
scribed by the proprieties of your office, striven to secure an
amicable settlement of differences rather than to encourage
their determination by course of an action. In your individual
administration of justice we have always found you possessed
of legal learning well calculated to adorn the higher courts,
careful and painstaking in the researches into the law and
facts rendered necessary by the exigencies and peculiarities
of the particular action and notably correct in your conclu-
sions and just in your decisions, nor should We omit mention
of what is a crowning merit in a judicial officer; Patience is
a large element of justice, and we acknowledge the uniform
exercise on your part toward the members of the bar of
patient attention to and - careful consideration of their oft-
times diverse and conflicting views ; and to this patience you
join unvarying courtesy.”

In the fall of 1883 Mr. Woods was unanimously nominated
by his party for the office of surrogate, and was elected by a
commanding majority. He discharged the duties of that
important office for the full term of six years with credit to
himself and satisfaction to the people. On his retirement
every newspaper in the county made him the subject of
laudatory editorial notice, commending him for his industry,
courtesy, learning and integrity, and showing a remarkable
concensus of favorable opinion as to the judicial services of
a magistrate, who for an extended term was engaged in ad-
justing the most delicate interests and determining the ad-
ministrations of hundreds of large estates where a lack of
good nature and polite attention and sound judgment is often
more annoying and harmful than a want of legal erudition.

The period of Mr. Woods’ incumbency as surrogate is the
brightest chapter in his career, as it is one of the most hon-

Noted Living Albanians.

orable and creditable chapters in the county history. Mr.
Woods is now serving as a member of the commission re-
cently appointed by Governor Hill, by and with the advice
and consent of the senate, to propose amendments to the
sixth or judiciary article of the state constitution. This com-
mission embraces within it some of the most distinguished
lawyers of the state — a designation to its membership is a
rare distinction.

A good business man who observed his course as surrogate
has stated that his quick, sure judgment as to bonds pre-
sented in that court was quite remarkable, and so quietly
exercised as not to be generally known, but its fruit was the
comparatively small loss to estates during his term. His
natural characteristics as a peacemaker promoted many set-
tlements, healed dissension and warded off expensive litiga-
tion. He has had many important cases, among the most
noted of which were the contested wills of William Hawley,
Weare C. Little, Robert Higgins, Philip Luke, John H.
Lasher, Sarah Lansing, John J. Oliver, Mary E. Sterling,
John D. Turnbull, Sarah J. Ferry, Isabella Sarauw,
Seeley Lockwood, and Eliza Ann Vedder. His decision
affirming the will of Eliza Ann Vedder shows a deep
study of the law as to the bearing of delusions in the
question of testamentary capacity. His probate judg-
ments stand unreversed. His decision affirming the con-
stitutionality of what is known as the collateral tax law was
affirmed by the court of appeals in the estate of Mary Mac-
Pherson, and he has since made many notable rulings under
this same law, especially those exempting all legacies under
$500 from taxation. In court he was attentive to hear, quick
to understand and slow to decide. He has executive ability
of the first order.

Francis H. Woods.

517

As a democratic orator, Mr. Woods most notable work
was in his friend, Mayor Nolan’s campaign; in the various
addresses he made while accompanying Mr. Manning and
the Democratic Phalanx to the Chicago convention, which
nominated Grover Cleveland ; in the rejoicing journey home
from there ; at the great P'ort Plain meeting with Mr. Apgar,
being the first Cleveland meeting in the interior of the state;
and in a speech at Franklin Square, at Troy, which is said
to have done much to stem the tide that was running tow-
ard Blaine and Butler in that city. He displayed great
activity, and was at his best in scores of out-door gatherings
in the campaign of 1888, and accompanied his friend,. John
Boyd Thacher, in a part of the novel cruise of the boat
Thomas Jefferson down the Erie canal, making speeches of
electric power at Schenectady, West Troy and Albany from
the bow of the boat. But in the intensest heat of political
speech he never forgets that his opponents are his neighbors
and fellow-citizens. He wisely seeks to inspire his own
ranks with that enthusiasm which is essential to success in
political warfare.

It is understood that Mr. Woods devotes much study and
care to the preparation of his addresses on ceremonial occa-
sions and takes no little pride in them. Among the most
notable of these are his oration in the old capitol on the
4th of July, 1877, in which his characterization of the new
capitol as, “ a dream of beauty frozen in granite,” will be
remembered ; his welcome to Parnell and Dillon in 1880,
which Mr. Parnell pronounced a speech of magnificent
eloquence ; ” his address at the bar meeting on the death of
Hale Kingsley -; his address for Company B to the New Ha-
ven Greys ; his response to the toast City of Albany,” at
the semi-centennial of the Burgesses corps ; his address to

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Noted Living Albanians.

the delegates to the French convention, which was copied
into the French papers of Montreal, Quebec and Paris ; and
his speech at Faneuil hall to the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery company. Among the brightest and wittiest of
his efforts was the response to the toast of “The Young
Physician ” at the State Homoeopathic society’s banquet in
1889. His response to the memory of Burns at the banquet
celebrating the unveiling of the monument of the poet in our
park was glowing, tender and sympathetic and will abide
long in the memory of the Scotchmen who heard it. On St.
Valentine’s eve in 1889, at the famous banquet of the Hol-
land society, to the toast Our Brother Nationalities,” he
won the rapt attention and then the thundering plaudits of
as distinguished a company as ever gathered in Albany on
festive occasion, in a speech at once instructive, entertaining,
eloquent in phrasing and charming in expression.

Judge Woods is a born orator, and he may justly rank with
the really good speakers of the country. His appearance on
the platform is indicative of power and ability. His voice is
flexible and resonant, and partakes more of the rotund qual-
ity than is generally found in voices not trained in the actor’s
art. His method of speaking is strong and effective, his ar-
ticulation clear and distinct, his modulations harmonious,
and his transitions well defined. Possessing an abundant
vocabulary, he is never at a loss for a word, and there is no
hesitancy or tripping in his speech. When deeply moved
his words come forth with a dramatic force and intensity
which arouses in his hearers the emotions which he himself
feels. His gestures, never redundant, are graceful and ap-
propriate, and are used with discretion. Hence he commands
attention at a point where most speakers grow monotonous,
and, therefore, weak and ineffective. The contrast between his

Francis’ H. Woods.

519

early campaign speeches and the addresses delivered by him
within the past two years — one we particularly recall, and
that was the address on the “ Life and Labors of Father
Matthew,” which was not a temperance lecture, but a beau-
tiful word painting — shows marks of decided difference in
style, and proves the Judge to possess the requisites of an
accomplished orator — the power to adapt himself to the
subject, the time and the occasion.

He is an intelligent lawyer, a lover of books, a sound ad-
viser. His best and most far-sighted friends believe that in
his ripened powers and with his special gifts, his field of
highest and most congenial work will be as an advocate at
the bar, and in the high debate of legislative councils and
deliberative assemblies. Simple-mannered and kind-hearted,
he has in the love of many friends a support that has been
generous and constant.

BENJAMIN W. WOOSTER.

OF THOSE who have worthily represented a useful and
indispensable industry in Albany, the specimens of
whose skillful workmanship are scattered far and wide
through the land, we have a notable example in the career
of Mr. B. W. Wooster, the popular furniture manufacturer
of Nos. 36-38 North Pearl street, and the efficient president
of the Albany County bank.

Born in Albany county, N. Y., on the 24th of March, 1820,
he is a son of David Wooster and Polly Woodbury, of New
Hampshire. His parents, with a view of improving their
financial condition, left the old granite state in 1816, and came
to Albany.

Here, with the characteristic enterprise, economy and per-
severance of New Englanders they started out to make an
honest living by hard work. On account of their limited
means their son Benjamin was obliged, early in life, to look
out for himself. After receiving a good, common-school
education, he found that the best thing for him to do was to
learn some useful trade. From a small boy his natural taste
was found to be altogether in the line of cabinet making, and
even then he would cultivate his budding genius in this re-
spect by making various miniature articles of furniture by
which his own childish fancy was highly pleased. It was not

Benjamin W. Wooster.

521

hard even then to predict what occupation he would adopt
and follow through life. Without any hesitancy, and of his
own accord, he at once became an apprentice in the cabinet-
making business, and for four years served in this capacity
with all the faithfulness, devotion and enthusiasm of a true
student of mechanical art, inspired by the hope that some
day his youthful dreams of success might be fully realized.
At the close of his apprenticeship he was ready for work on
his own account, but with little means to start out in busi-
ness. But having an indomitable will, a way was soon
opened to him, when every obstacle was removed. In 1843,
at the age of twenty-three, he courageously commenced
business in a small store on South Pearl street. His remark-
able pluck, industry and honorable dealing soon brought him
friends who extended to him a helping hand by liberally
purchasing his goods and expressing kindly words of encour-
agement. He attended closely to his business, studied the
wants of the public in his special line, manufactured goods
of a superior style in material and in finish, and after eight
years, marked by a steady and growing increase in his busi-
ness, he found that real prosperity had come to crown his
earnest endeavors.

In 1851 he was gratified to find that on account of his
large trade, more ample accommodations were necessary for
his wares than were to be found in the little two-story,
wooden structure on South Pearl street. Accordingly he
erected a new building four stories in height, at Nos. 57 and
59 South Pearl street. Here for many years he carried on
his cabinet making business with marked success, enlarging
the capacity of his store from time to time, when more room
seemed to be required.

Mr. Wooster was all this time establishing a wider reputa-

522

Noted Living Albanians.

tion as the manufacturer of a higher class of work. He de-
voted his entire energies and his mechanical skill to building
up a trade which extended not only through our own, but
many of the eastern states. For years his house has been
a leading one in the furniture business in northern New
York, where his customers are perhaps, most numerous. He
has fully gained what he set out for in earlier life, the repu-
tation of being a first-class manufacturer of superb house-
hold furniture of all descriptions. The fine work which he
makes has always been noted for its durability, its highly-
polished nature, its elaborate, ornamental and artistic de-
signs. Specimens of it are to be seen in many of the leading
hotels, banks, offices and private residences in Albany as
well as in numerous other places, both near and distant.
As a designer and decorator of the interior of public and
private buildings Mr. Wooster has won a reputation second
to none in the country. This is principally due to his care-
ful over-sight of his work, his selection of skilled mechanics,
his own love of the beautiful in art, his large experience as a
manufacturer of so many different styles of furniture, and
his excellent judgment in what is most pleasing to the eye
and most appropriate and harmonious in ornamentation.

In July, 1889, Wooster moved into his new and beau-
tiful store. Nos. 36 and 38 North Pearl street, where he has
one of the largest and finest assortments of all kinds of fur-
niture to be found outside of the metropolis.

In 1878 Mr. Wooster was chosen president of the Albany
County bank, a strong and well-managed institution, organ-
ized and chartered in 1871, and now located in the new,
superb building corner of State and South Pearl streets, on
the very site where for over two hundred years stood the
historic Staats house as a striking specimen of the old Dutch

Benjamin W. Wooster.

523

style. This position he still holds, the duties of which he
has all along discharged with much care and executive
ability. Other offices of trust and responsibility have been
offered to him, but declined. He has experienced great
pleasure in attending to his own chosen and life-long occu-
pation ; and consequently does not aspire to offices of a
political or municipal nature, which his fellow-citizens would
cheerfully have conferred upon him.

Mr. Wooster possesses all the necessary qualifications of
the successful merchant. He is a thorough master of his busi-
ness in all its details. He is wide-awake to the wants of the
present progressive and refined taste of the age in the furni-
ture line. He is agreeable in his manners, prompt in his
decision, reliable in his statements, and well-grounded in
high moral principle. It is no wonder then that after so
many years of toil and earnest efforts in the right direction
he now enjoys the respect, confidence and esteem of Alba-
nians, as well as of others with whom he comes in daily con-
tact in business transactions. As a self-made man, commenc-
ing his business career on a small scale and carrying it for-
ward to such large dimensions he has reflected great credit
upon himself, while he has contributed no little toward
pleasing the taste of the most fastidious in the selection of
household furniture or in the decoration of buildings.

In the record of such an individual no small encouragement
is held out to young men who, in a spirit of self-reliance,
faithfulness and unyielding perseverance, ennobled by high
character, are engaged in the same calling.

In 1878 Mr. Wooster erected a handsome private residence
on the corner of State street and Western avenue, fronting
Washington park, which has attracted the admiration of our
citizens and visitors. Constructed of brick, two stories in

524

Noted Living Albanians.

height, with a villa roof and standing on spacious grounds,
it has a truly inviting appearance. Its interior is furnished
and decorated in accordance with the fine, original designs
of its owner.

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Full text of "Noted living Albanians and state officials. A series of biographical sketches"

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